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Related Concept Videos

Electric Field Lines01:25

Electric Field Lines

8.9K
The three-dimensional representation of the electric field of a positive point charge requires tracing the electric field vectors, whose lengths decrease as the square of their distance from the charge and which point away from the charge at each point. This vector field is no doubt challenging to visualize. The visualization of electric fields becomes quickly intractable as the number of charges increases.
The solution to this problem is to use electric field lines, which are not vectors but...
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Electric Field of a Charged Disk01:23

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The simplest case of a surface charge distribution is the uniformly charged disk. Calculating its electric field also helps us calculate the electric field of a large plane of charge.
The system's symmetry is in the cylindrical directions across the plane of the charge. As a result, the electric fields created by various surface charge elements nullify each other in the direction parallel to the surface. Thereby, the resulting electric field is perpendicular to the plane. Since the disk is...
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Electric Field of a Non Uniformly Charged Sphere01:22

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Gauss's law states that the electric flux through any closed surface equals the net charge enclosed within the surface. This law is beneficial for determining the expressions for the electric field for a particular charge distribution if the electric flux is known.
Consider a non-uniformly charged sphere, for which the density of charge depends only on the distance from a point in space and not on the direction. Such a sphere has a spherically symmetrical charge distribution. Here, the electric...
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Electric Field01:16

Electric Field

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Consider two point charges, each exerting Coulomb force on the other. It is possible to describe the Coulomb interaction via an intermediate step by defining a new physical quantity called the electric field.
In the new picture, imagine that the first charge sets up an electric field independent of all other charges in the universe. When another charge comes in its vicinity, the second charge experiences an electric force depending on the electric field at that point. The source charge does not...
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Induced Electric Fields01:23

Induced Electric Fields

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The fact that emfs are induced in circuits implies that work is being done on the conduction electrons in the wires. What can possibly be the source of this work? We know that it’s neither a battery nor a magnetic field, as a battery does not have to be present in a circuit where current is induced, and magnetic fields never do any work on moving charges. The source of the work is in fact an electric field that is induced in the wires. For example, if a stationary conductor is placed in a...
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Electric Field at the Surface of a Conductor01:26

Electric Field at the Surface of a Conductor

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Consider a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium. The net electric field inside a conductor vanishes, and extra charges on the conductor reside on its outer surface, regardless of where they originate.
In the 19th century, Michael Faraday conducted the famous ice pail experiment to prove that the charges always reside on the surface of a conductor. The experimental set-up consists of a conducting uncharged container mounted on an insulating stand. The outer surface of the container is...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 9, 2025

Giant Liposome Preparation for Imaging and Patch-Clamp Electrophysiology
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Giant Liposome Preparation for Imaging and Patch-Clamp Electrophysiology

Published on: June 21, 2013

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Giant vesicles in electric fields.

Rumiana Dimova1, Karin A Riske1, Said Aranda1

  • 1Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Science Park Golm, 14424 Potsdam, Germany. Rumiana.Dimova@mpikg.mpg.de.

Soft Matter
|September 9, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Giant unilamellar vesicles respond to electric fields through deformation, poration, and fusion. Recent advancements enable millisecond-scale detection of these electric field effects on cell-size membranes.

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Phase Behavior of Charged Vesicles Under Symmetric and Asymmetric Solution Conditions Monitored with Fluorescence Microscopy
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Phase Behavior of Charged Vesicles Under Symmetric and Asymmetric Solution Conditions Monitored with Fluorescence Microscopy
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Phase Behavior of Charged Vesicles Under Symmetric and Asymmetric Solution Conditions Monitored with Fluorescence Microscopy

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Area of Science:

  • Biophysics
  • Membrane science
  • Electrochemistry

Background:

  • Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) are model systems for studying cell membrane behavior.
  • Electric fields are increasingly used to manipulate and probe biological membranes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review electric field effects on giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs).
  • To highlight recent advancements in observing dynamic vesicle responses.
  • To introduce novel findings on electric field interactions with gel-phase vesicles.

Main Methods:

  • Subjecting GUVs to weak alternating current (AC) fields and strong direct current (DC) pulses.
  • Utilizing high-resolution techniques for millisecond-scale dynamic response detection.

Main Results:

  • Observed electro-deformation, electro-poration, and electro-fusion of GUVs under different electric field conditions.
  • Demonstrated millisecond-level resolution in tracking vesicle dynamics during these processes.
  • Introduced new insights into electric field interactions with vesicles in the gel phase.

Conclusions:

  • Electric fields induce diverse, dynamically measurable responses in GUVs.
  • Advanced techniques offer unprecedented temporal resolution for studying membrane electrokinetics.
  • The study expands understanding of electric field effects on lipid bilayers, including the gel phase.