42 ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEMS

line the distance of separation of the wires is very small is compared with the length of the line
and, therefore, for this
L
E= .
2 0 r

3.2 POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS DUE TO A LINE

CHARGE

The potential at any distance r from the charge is the work done in moving a unit positive
charge from infinity to that point and the potential difference between two points at distances
r1 and r2 is the work done in moving a unit positive charge from r2 to r1 as shown in Fig. 3.2 or
it is the line integral of the electric field intensity between points r2 and r1.

V= z r2
r1
Er dr (3.3)

rL

r1 r r2

Fig. 3.2 Potential due to infinite line of charge.

Here Er is taken as negative because the unit charge is to be moved against the direction
of the electric field intensity Er. Now substituting for Er from equation (3.2).

V=
L
2 0 zr2
r1 dr
r
L r
V= ln 2 (3.4)
2 0 r1

3.3 TWO INFINITE LINES OF CHARGE

Consider the two infinite line charges as shown in Fig. 3.3. The line charge density of one is L
coulomb/metre and that of the other is L C/metre and say they are separated by a distance
2s. Let O be the origin and the centre point between the charges. Since the charges are of