words, words, words

[lauradi7dw]

I tend to think that I have a pretty good command of the English language, but there are lots of
phrases that snag me. Often it's just that I go for the weird alternate meaning first, missing the obvious one, but sometimes it's probably related to my spatial orientation problems. Case in point: "The electric field must, therefore, always point in the direction in which the electric potential has its maximum decrease." This is something I absolutely have to understand, and I keep coming up with different explanations - does it mean towards where the potential is the smallest? Using the ever-present topographical map analogy, are we talking about down a steep hill?

Comments

[okosut.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's right. The idea is that the electric field points in the same direction as the force acting on a positive test charge, so if the charge goes down hill, the electric field points downhill. I think they're also trying to say something slightly more specific, which is that the electric field is the gradient of the potential, meaning that the field points in the direction which causes the potential to decrease the fastest.