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On Thu, 7 Mar 2002, kowalskil wrote:
Why should the gradient be parallel to the paper boundary
everywhere, as it seems to be?
Hint: Think about what the electric current would look like if
this were not the case.
If a wire is connected between the terminals, the situation
is obviously no longer static. A potential gradient exists
along the wire and field lines run along the gradient pushing
free electrons uphill. They constitute the current that flows.
Field lines also exist outside the wire. They bulge out from
the wire's surface, their spacing indicating decreasing field
strength with increasing radial distance from the wire. They
go from points of higher potential on the wire (nearer the
positive battery terminal) to points of lower potential (nearer
the negative terminal). The field lines display cylindrical
symmetry around the axial wire.