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Re: mapping out equipotentials



As David Bowman pointed out, you don't have a ghost of a chance of
measuring the E-field in the air using an ordinary voltmeter. OTOH it
is
amusing to keep in mind that there do exist very-high-impedance
instruments
for measuring the such fields. For starters
http://www.google.com/search?q=electrostatic+field+mill
and in particular
http://www.colutron.com/download_files/chap6.pdf

Perhaps it should be added that increasing the instrument impedance to
infinity only solves part of the problem. All of the setups shown in the
second URL, above, introduce considerable conducting matter into the
region under measurement - these conductors will force new equipotential
volumes into existence and thus change the very things (E/V) being
measured - a devilishly insurmountable problem, only coarsely minimizable.

Bob

Bob Sciamanda (W3NLV)
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (em)
trebor@velocity.net
http://www.velocity.net/~trebor