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On 07/03/2012 09:06 AM, LaMontagne, Bob wrote:
Here is a pair of field lines that do not follow the usual maxim of
starting and stopping on a charge.
I don't buy it, for a reason nobody has mentioned yet: in
addition to the
lines flowing out from the origin in the plane of symmetry,
there are also
lines flowing *into* the origin along the axis of symmetry.
Just because we didn't mention them doesn't mean they are not
there. I'm
kicking myself for not mentioning them earlier. The
inflowing lines have
just as much significance (i.e. not much) as the outflowing
lines. These
lines have virtually no significance because the density of
lines is zero
at the origin.
--------------------------------
[LaMontagne]
Thanks - that appears to be a good resolution of the apparant
paradox. If the density of field lines is zero at the origin,
then the starting and stopping of lines there simply becomes
an ill posed question.
Bob at PC
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