Timeline for Does potential energy in external fields contribute to the mechanical energy?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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Apr 3, 2020 at 11:51 | comment | added | user224659 | Yes. Just some terminology: What you call the "source" I would call the enviroment and what you call the test charge I would call the system. This generalizes the ideas even further and shows that this approximation is not limited to electrodynamics. Glad this was helpful. I just recently read something very similar in Landaus introduction to statistical physics. | |
Apr 3, 2020 at 11:35 | vote | accept | 13509 | ||
Apr 3, 2020 at 11:35 | comment | added | 13509 | This is an amazing answer; so essentially we don't write the Hamiltonian for a single test charge, but rather for the whole system. Except in some cases the Hamiltonian can be approximated as only a function of the position of the test charge - but nonetheless, it is still of the entire system! | |
Apr 3, 2020 at 11:34 | history | edited | user224659 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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Apr 3, 2020 at 9:22 | comment | added | user224659 | I made some edits to make my point more clear. | |
Apr 3, 2020 at 9:22 | history | edited | user224659 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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Apr 3, 2020 at 9:15 | history | answered | user224659 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |