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:

    Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes!
    Bible: New Testament, Matthew 18:7.

    Other translations use “temptations.”

    For, the expectation of gratitude is mean, and is continually punished by the total insensibility of the obliged person. It is a great happiness to get off without injury and heart-burning, from one who has had the ill luck to be served by you. It is a very onerous business, this being served, and the debtor naturally wishes to give you a slap.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The man’s an M.D., like you. He’s entitled to his opinion. Or do you want me to charge him with confusing a country doctor?
    —Robert M. Fresco. Jack Arnold. Sheriff Jack Andrews (Nestor Paiva)