You have been assigned to a team developing a new 3-D printer. Your team is investigating the use of electric charge configurations to manipulate the particles of material. To begin design work, the company wants to use a computer program that simulates the electric field for arbitrary charge configurations. Your task is to evaluate such a program. To test the program, you use it to predict the electric field of three different simple charge configurations (single positive charge, single negative charge, and dipole) to see if the simulations correspond to your expectations.

1. Draw the electric field map for a positive charged object of negligible size. Make sure to clearly define an x-y coordinate system. As you construct your map, pay careful attention to the length and direction of the electric field at different points in space. Make a graph of the magnitude of the electric field as a function of the distance from the charged object. Now select positions that are not on your x or y axis and make a graph of the electric field as a function of x and also as a function of y as you get further from the charged object.

2. Repeat question 1 for a negative point charge.

3. Draw the electric field map for a dipole with the charged objects separated by a distance much larger than the size of the charged objects. Make your x axis along one axis of symmetry and your y axis along another axis of symmetry perpendicular to the x axis. As you construct your map, pay careful attention to the length and direction of the electric field at different points in space. Now select positions that are on your x axis and make a graph of the electric field as a function of the distance along that axis. Repeat for the y axis. Now make a graph of the magnitude of the electric field as a function of the distance from the center of the dipole for points not on either of your axes.

Prediction

Determine the task from the problem statement, and then in a few sentences, equations, drawings, and or graphs, make a clear and concise prediction that accomplishes the task.