I am having so much trouble with this problem. I feel like I shouldn't be, but I am.
A uniform electric field, →E=E0ˆx. What is the potential, expressed using cylindrical coordinates, V(s,ϕ,z)?
I asked a question related to this yesterday, and got a solid answer, but when I carry things out, it still doesn't make sense physically (though, after a bit of studying, I now understand the Gradient Theorem).
We know that: →E=E0ˆx=−∇V⟹−∫C[x0,x]E0ˆx⋅dl=V(x)−V(x0) Since the electric field only has quantity in the ˆx direction, the dot product inside of the integral comes out to E0 dx, giving us: E0(x0−x)=V(x)−V(x0) Now, this makes sense. Since the electric field is a conservative one, the path we take shouldn't depend on any other variable but x. If we move in some y direction and some z direction, there will be zero change in potential.
Let V(x0)=0 be our point of reference, so: V(x)=E0(x0−x) So far (I think) this all seems fine and dandy. The reason I don't set E0x0 to zero is because there is no 1/x term; otherwise I'd be able to make the reference point at x=∞, and things would cancel out nicely.
Now, I try to convert to cylindrical coordinates. We know: r=√x2+y2+z2=√x2=xθ=tan−1yx=0z=0
So V(r)=E0(r0−r)
But... this doesn't make any sense. With this potential function, moving r-distance in the −x direction will give you the same potential as moving r-distance in the positive x direction (which will give you the same potential as moving r-distance in the y direction, even, since r is just a radial distance from, say, the z-axis.
I am doing something terribly wrong and I have no idea what it is, haha.
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