Charge Density - Free, Bound and Total Charge

Free, Bound and Total Charge

In dielectric materials, the total charge of an object can separated into "free" and "bound" charges.

Bound charges set up electric dipoles in response to an applied electric field E, and polarize other nearby dipoles tending to line them up, the net accumulation of charge from the orientation of the dipoles is the bound charge. They are called bound because they cannot be removed: in the dielectric material the charges are the electrons bound to the nuclei.

Free charges are the excess charges which can move into electrostatic equilibrium, i.e. when the charges are not moving and the resultant electric field is independent of time, or constitute electric currents.

Read more about this topic:  Charge Density

Famous quotes containing the words bound, total and/or charge:

    It is only a transjectus, a transitory voyage, like life itself, none but the long-lived gods bound up or down the stream.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I believe in the total depravity of inanimate things ... the elusiveness of soap, the knottiness of strings, the transitory nature of buttons, the inclination of suspenders to twist and of hooks to forsake their lawful eyes, and cleave only unto the hairs of their hapless owner’s head.
    Katharine Walker (1840–1916)

    The most serious charge which can be brought against New England is not Puritanism but February.
    Joseph Wood Krutch (1893–1970)