Irodov Problem 1.132

As in problem 1.131, the force is the negative gradient of the potential. In Cartesian coordinates we have,




For a force field to be central it must depend only on - the magnitude of the radius vector from the center of the force. This is clearly not true for the force above. In other words this is not a central force field.

Equi-potential surface is the surface (or curve) on which the value potential all points have the same potential. In other words,


This is the equation of an ellipse centered at the origin.