Electrostatics

This edition, like its predecessor, aims to provide a comprehensive and coherent account of static electric phenomena and concepts based on a mathematical-physical approach. It is intended for the nonspecialists interested in understanding the electrostatic concepts, and for the specialized engineer who may not be familiar with the basic fundamentals. The book has been updated to include new and expanded material on charge decay, charge neutralization by air ions, breakdown between conductors with different electrode geometry and a completely rewritten chapter on electrostatic measurements with special emphasis put on showing the difficulty in relating the voltage of a conductor with a measured field strength. Another important issue in this chapter is demonstrating that the concept of voltage can not be applied in connection with insulators.