Simulating Electric Fields

Analysing the electric field at a point due to charged objects

Features provided:

• Add multiple objects to 3D coordinate system
• Superpose Electric Fields at a point due to multiple objects
• Calculate Electric Field with numerical integration

Uniformly charged objects available:

• Point
• Rod
• Plane
• Conducting Sphere

Instructions

• Choose a charged object from the drop down list at the top.

• When adding a Point, no need to fill Coordinate 2, 3, Number of calculation points, and Radius

• When adding a Rod, no need to fill Coordinate 3, and Radius

  • Coordinate points are
    • 1
    • |
    • 2

• When adding a Plane, no need to fill Radius

  • Coordinate points are (this is to avoid an unintentional "twisted" plane)
    • 2---4
    • |     |
    • 1---3

• When adding a Conducting Sphere, no need to fill Coordinate 2, 3, and Number of calculation points

• Make sure all the required fields have values of the right data type

• Click on the add button to add the shape to the field system and to the left hand panel, be sure to zoom in/out if your shape is not on screen

• The XY, YZ, XZ change the view of the field system with the first letter on the button being the horizontal axis and second being the vertical

• Save System and Load System saves and reloads the system respectively from a text file held at \data

• Calculate the electric field due to all charged objects in the system using the Calculate electric field button, the values should be displayed at the bottom of the right hand panel (note: this only updates when pressed, not when an object is added or removed to avoid unnecessary computation)

• The zoom in/out buttons are to adjust the view of the objects in the system on the left

• Objects are added serially to an arraylist, so to remove an object type its index number (0-based), enter index number of object and click on the remove button to remove the shape from the field system and screen

• Rod and Plane electric fields are calculated using numerical integration therefore the higher number of calculation points, more accurate the approximation is and also the longer it takes

• Adding objects too far or large will "spill" onto the right side of the gui, zoom out to fix this

• Objects may overlap in the wrong order, look at objects from another angle to see actual locations