Question

electrostatic field lines cannot be discontinuous why?

Answer 1

Electric field of a charge decreases gradually with increasing distance from it ( as E = kq/r^2) and become zero at infinity i.e, electric field cannot vanish abruptly or suddenly. Thus ,electric field lines cannot have sudden breaks and hence electrostatic field lines cannot be discontinuous.

Answer 2

Answer:

• An electrostatic line is a continuous curve, because tangent to it at any point represents the direction in which a test charge kept at that point will experience force.
• It cannot have sudden breaks, because no abrupt force acts on a test charge.