Electric fields due to electrical circuits

Abstract

It is important to distinguish two different contributions to the total electric field due to the current flowing in an electrical circuit. First there are the electric fields, denoted E _s due to the surface and boundary charge distributions that give the appropriate value for the resultant electric field in the various parts of the circuit so as to give the same value of current in all parts of a series circuits when the current is steady or is varying at mains frequency. The properties of these electric fields due to surface and boundary charge distributions are discussed in detail in Appendix B. Secondly there are the electric fields due to the moving and accelerating conduction electrons and stationary positive ions inside the conductors making up the circuit. The formulae for the electric fields due to the moving conduction electrons and stationary positive ions will be derived in this chapter using the expression for the electric field due to an accelerating classical point charge, which is given by equation (3.10).