ELECTRIC FIELD

Electric Field

- The electric force is a field force and is said to exist in the region of space around a charged
object.
- The electric field 𝐸 produced by a charge Q at the location of a small “test” charge 𝑞0 is
defined as the electric force 𝐹 exerted by Q on 𝑞0 divided by the test charge 𝑞0:

- This charged object is the source charge. When another charged object, the test charge,
enters this electric field, an electric force acts on it.
- Electric fields are a vector quantity and can be visualized as arrows going toward or away
from charges. The lines are defined as pointing radially outward, away from a positive
charge, or radially inward, toward a negative charge.

Four Important Properties of Electric Field Lines:

1. The Field Lines must be tangent to the direction of the field at any point.

2. The greater the line density, the greater the magnitude of the field.

3. The line always starts from positively charged objects and end on negatively charged objects.

4. The line must never cross!

Sample Problem # 1

What is the magnitude of a point charge whose Electric field at a distance of 25 cm is 3.4 N/C?
Sample Problem # 2

A small charge (q= 6.0 x 10 -3 C) is found in a uniform E-field ( E=2.9 N/C).

a)Determine the force on the charge.

b) Determine the magnitude of point charge if the two particles are 0.20 m away from each other