Electric dipole field ($\mathbf{E}=[3(\mathbf{p}\cdot \hat{\mathbf{r}})\hat{\mathbf{r}}-\mathbf{p}]/(4\pi {ϵ}_0{r}^3)$)

At distances large compared with the separation of a neutral charge pair, its electric field has the displayed leading form in terms of the electric dipole moment $\mathbf{p}$. Measure the polar angle from $\mathbf{p}$. The radial and angular components are $E_r=2p\cos \theta /(4\pi {ϵ}_0{r}^3)$ and $E_{\theta }=p\sin \theta /(4\pi {ϵ}_0{r}^3)$, giving $|\mathbf{E}|=p\sqrt{1+3{\cos }^2\theta }/(4\pi {ϵ}_0{r}^3)$. At fixed radius the polar field magnitude is twice the equatorial one. This leading neutral-pair field falls as $r^{-3}$, faster than the $r^{-2}$ electric field of an isolated point charge.

For potential energy homogeneous of degree $-2$, Newton's second law gives $d^2{r}^2/d{t}^2=4E/m$. Indeed, Euler's identity implies $\mathbf{r}\cdot \mathbf{F}=2U$, so the second derivative equals $2v^2+4U/m=4(K+U)/m$. Thus a trajectory with zero total energy and initially zero radial velocity remains on a sphere of constant radius. A positive electric charge released from rest on the equator of a fixed ideal electric dipole has these properties; in its meridional plane it oscillates on the semicircle on the negative-pole side. A finite two-charge electric dipole does not have exactly homogeneous potential energy and perturbs this result.