Question

Question #04275

Answer 1

Permittivity of an material is an electric property it has.

Explanation:

It determines the amount of electric field a charge can produce when placed in it.

Consider two materials with electrical permittivites `epsilon_1` and `epsilon_2`.

When a charged particle `q` is placed inside both of these materials, one finds that, the electric field in material 1 is - (of magnitude)

`E_1 = q/(4piepsilon_1r^2)` where `r` is distance from the charge where the field is measured.

For the second material the field due to the same charge at a same distance `r` is, (magnitude only)

`E_2 = q/(4piepsilon_2r^2)`

Thus, if `epsilon_1 > epsilon_2` then, the field `E_2 > E_1` and vice versa.

So permittivity determines (in a sense) the ability of the medium to respond to electrical effects.

The permittivity of vacuum is denoted as `epsilon_0`.

Thus, the electric field produced by point charge `q` in vacuum is, (magnitude only)

`E = q/(4piepsilon_0r^2)`