WOLFRAM|DEMONSTRATIONS PROJECT

Simple Harmonic Motion of an Electric Dipole

​
initial angle
10
time
6.284
length
1
field strength
1
dipole charge
1
mass
1
This Demonstration shows how an electric dipole undergoes simple harmonic motion in the presence of an electric field.
With the small angle approximation
θ≈sinθ
, the differential equation for this motion is
I
2
d
θ

2
t
=pEθ
, where
p
is the dipole moment—defined as the charge times the separation between the two point charges—and
E
is the magnitude of the electric field. Solving this equation gives the resulting motion.