Question

Write any two important points of similarities and differences each between Coulomb’s law for the electrostatic field and Biot-Savart’s law for the magnetic field.

Answer 1

Similarities:

Both electrostatic field and magnetic field:

Follows the principle of superposition.

Depends inversely on the square of distance from source to the point of interest.

Differences:

(i) Electrostatic field is produced by a scalar source (q) and the magnetic field is produced by a vector (I \(\overrightarrow{dI}.\)).

(ii) Electrostatic field is along the displacement vector between source and point of interest; while magnetic field is perpendicular to the plane, containing the displacement vector and vector source.

(iii) Electrostatic field is angle independent, while magnetic field is angle dependent between source vector and displacement vector.