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Re: Are the field lines the trajectory of a particle with mass M? [message #38564 is a reply to message #38557]

Sun, 14 March 2004 09:40

R.G. Stockwell
Messages: 363
Registered: July 1999

Senior Member

"pakachunka" <pakachunka@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:d6fc922e.0403131602.8ec07b2@posting.google.com...
> I believe the field lines are not the trajectories... but a friend of
> mine is driving me crazy, because he says they are.
>
> How can I demonstrate that field lines are not the trajectories?
>
> I mean: what are field lines, to start?

Following James' anwer, if it is gravity or electric _force_ field,
simply swing a cat on the end of a rope, and point out that at no
time is the force (tension along string ignoring gravity etc) lined
up with the trajectory. ie the "force field line" is always towards the
center of the circle.

cheers,
bob

PS since this is an IDL group, I'd write a program to solve
the equations for circular motion, and draw the velocity vector and
force vector and many discrete points, and perhaps animate it.

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[Message index]

		Re: Are the field lines the trajectory of a particle with mass M? By: profxtjb on Mon, 15 March 2004 20:40
		Re: Are the field lines the trajectory of a particle with mass M? By: James Kuyper on Mon, 15 March 2004 14:45
		Re: Are the field lines the trajectory of a particle with mass M? By: jeyadev on Mon, 15 March 2004 14:04
		Re: Are the field lines the trajectory of a particle with mass M? By: R.G. Stockwell on Sun, 14 March 2004 09:40
		Re: Are the field lines the trajectory of a particle with mass M? By: James Kuyper on Sun, 14 March 2004 08:01

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