- #36
Studiot
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Why would you claim that any reconciliation is needed? Coulombs law discusses the Potential due to the existence of two charges. It doesn't say that is the only way to treat Fields. You can rearrange Coulomb's law and substitute some of the terms with E without any conflicts. The integral of E over distance will tell you the Potential in all circumstances
This is not mainstream.
It is the express aim of Physics Forums to lead students such as physics kiddy along mainstream paths.
I have been waiting for someone to do this in this thread and it has not happened, so I am not suprised pk is still confused.
Physics at this level is constructed to provide a logical development of ideas, based on real physical observations, that hang together as a coherent whole. These days we follow the 'MKS' system for this purpose.
So we introduce fundamental properties of matter and space such as length, mass and time and derive subsidiary mechanical quantities such as force, energy, work, power and so on from them.
One particular mechanical relation is Newton's law which states that there exists a force of attraction between any two masses, proportional to the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
[tex]F \propto \frac{{{m_1}{m_2}}}{{{d^2}}}[/tex]
We can directly observe and measure this force and confirm the relation.
Note also that if either m1 or m2 are zero (ie there is only one mass) the force is zero.
When we start electricity we learn that for some matter we observe an additional force, over and above this relation.
We attribute this extra force to a property we label electric charge and, as Coulomb discovered, it obeys a similar relationship to that of Newton.
[tex]F \propto \frac{{{q_1}{q_2}}}{{{d^2}}}[/tex]
This provides a direct link or introduction from mechanics to electrics.
Further it allows us to directly calculate the work done in moving a charge against this force.
The concept of electric potential follows from this work calculation as the potential energy added to the charged matter in moving it. A mechanical concept already well established.
Two things to note.
Firstly I have not mentioned fields and there is no need for them. Fields are a convenient mathematical and visualisation technique, not a fundamental necessity of the system.
Secondly, as with Newton's Law, if either q1 or q2 are zero (ie do not exist) and there is only one charge then the force is zero and no work is done in moving the other charge.
It is absolutely necessary to involve fields (/potential) in those cases, which don't relate in any way to other charges.
As to the question of electric fields in free space or conductors, I am sure you know the rules for field lines. They must either go on to infinity or start/end on a charge. So somewhere in the universe there must be a charge or charges terminating these lines.
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