
A uniform electric field exists between two charged plates as shown in the figure. What should be the work done in moving a charge q along the closed rectangular path ABCDA.

Answer
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Hint: Work done is a property that depends on displacement of the object the force is subjected on. . We need to find the displacement the charge travels through the loop ABCDA.
Formula Used: We will be using the notion that force is conservative and work done by an electric charge in an uniform electric field is given by where is the work done by the charge, is the displacement due to the force applied on the charge (which in this case is an electrostatic force), and is the angle between the two vectors.
Complete Step by Step solution
We know, in a uniform electric field the field lines are going to move from positively charged plate to the negatively charged one. Now suppose you are placing a charge in between the plates like shown in the figure below. Also consider an imaginary rectangular path ABCD with dimensions, and .
Now let us consider the work done to move the charge from point A to B between the plates.
Here , because the work done on the point to move from A to B and the electric field lines are in the same direction.
We also know that, . So,
Similarly, along the path , the angle between the two vectors is, .
And thus, the work done to move charge on the path BC,
Similarly for path CD we can see that the angle between the vectors is . We know that . Thus, making work done along the path CD, .
Also, for the path DA, the angle is . Thus, the work done can be given by . Now we can find the work done along the path DA as . Since, .
Now that we have the work done to move the charge along the closed path ABCDA. Let us calculate the total work done by adding the work done to move the charge along each side.
Thus, the work done is zero. No actual work is done to move a charge around the closed path ABCDA as shown in the figure.
Note
Alternate solution-
Since we can see that the charge is supposed to travel along the path ABCDA. The particle starts from A and ends up back in A, thus making the displacement . Work is a quantity whose magnitude depends on the displacement, thus the work done is
Thus, making the work done zero. This simple logic can be used to solve the problem faster.
Formula Used: We will be using the notion that force is conservative and work done by an electric charge
Complete Step by Step solution
We know, in a uniform electric field the field lines are going to move from positively charged plate to the negatively charged one. Now suppose you are placing a charge in between the plates like shown in the figure below. Also consider an imaginary rectangular path ABCD with dimensions,

Now let us consider the work done to move the charge from point A to B between the plates.
Here
We also know that,
Similarly, along the path
And thus, the work done to move charge on the path BC,
Similarly for path CD we can see that the angle between the vectors
Also, for the path DA, the angle
Now that we have the work done to move the charge
Thus, the work done is zero. No actual work is done to move a charge around the closed path ABCDA as shown in the figure.
Note
Alternate solution-
Since we can see that the charge is supposed to travel along the path ABCDA. The particle starts from A and ends up back in A, thus making the displacement
Thus, making the work done zero. This simple logic can be used to solve the problem faster.
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