What is the effect of increasing the permittivity of the medium on the electric
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the effect of increasing the permittivity of the medium on the electric field due to a point charge?
Electric field increases
Electric field decreases
Electric field remains the same
Electric field becomes zero
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the effect of increasing the permittivity of the medium on the electric field due to a point charge?
Step 1: Understand what permittivity is. Permittivity is a measure of how much electric field is reduced in a medium compared to a vacuum.
Step 2: Know the formula for the electric field (E) due to a point charge (Q). The formula is E = Q/(4πε₀r²), where ε₀ is the permittivity of free space.
Step 3: Identify what happens when the permittivity (ε) of the medium increases. A higher permittivity means the medium can reduce the electric field more.
Step 4: Realize that if ε increases, the value of E (electric field) decreases because E is inversely proportional to ε.
Step 5: Conclude that increasing the permittivity of the medium decreases the electric field produced by the point charge.
