Electric Field

You may have heard of a force field in science fiction movies, where such fields apply forces at particular positions in space to keep a villain trapped or to protect a spaceship from enemy fire. The concept of a field is very useful in physics, although it differs somewhat from what you see in movies.

A field is a way of conceptualizing and mapping the force that surrounds any object and acts on another object at a distance without apparent physical connection. For example, the gravitational field surrounding Earth and all other masses represents the gravitational force that would be experienced if another mass were placed at a given point within the field. Michael Faraday, an English physicist of the nineteenth century, proposed the concept of an electric field. If you know the electric field, then you can easily calculate the force (magnitude and direction) applied to any electric charge that you place in the field.

An electric field is generated by electric charge and tells us the force per unit charge at all locations in space around a charge distribution. The charge distribution could be a single point charge; a distribution of charge over, say, a flat plate; or a more complex distribution of charge. The electric field extends into space around the charge distribution. Now consider placing a test charge in the field. A test charge is a positive electric charge whose charge is so small that it does not significantly disturb the charges that create the electric field. The electric field exerts a force on the test charge in a given direction. The force exerted is proportional to the charge of the test charge. For example, if we double the charge of the test charge, the force exerted on it doubles. Mathematically, saying that electric field is the force per unit charge is written as

where we are considering only electric forces. Note that the electric field is a vector field that points in the same direction as the force on the positive test charge. The units of electric field are N/C.

If the electric field is created by a point charge or a sphere of uniform charge, then the magnitude of the force between this point charge Q and the test charge is given by Coulomb’s law

$$F=\frac{k\left|Q{q}_{\text{test}}\right|}{r^2}$$

where the absolute value is used, because we only consider the magnitude of the force. The magnitude of the electric field is then

This equation gives the magnitude of the electric field created by a point charge Q. The distance r in the denominator is the distance from the point charge, Q, or from the center of a spherical charge, to the point of interest.

If the test charge is removed from the electric field, the electric field still exists. To create a three-dimensional map of the electric field, imagine placing the test charge in various locations in the field. At each location, measure the force on the charge, and use the vector equation $\overrightarrow{E}=\overrightarrow{F}/q_{\text{test}}$ to calculate the electric field. Draw an arrow at each point where you place the test charge to represent the strength and the direction of the electric field. The length of the arrows should be proportional to the strength of the electric field. If you join together these arrows, you obtain lines. Figure 18.17 shows an image of the three-dimensional electric field created by a positive charge.

Figure 18.17 Three-dimensional representation of the electric field generated by a positive charge.

Just drawing the electric field lines in a plane that slices through the charge gives the two-dimensional electric-field maps shown in Figure 18.18. On the left is the electric field created by a positive charge, and on the right is the electric field created by a negative charge.

Notice that the electric field lines point away from the positive charge and toward the negative charge. Thus, a positive test charge placed in the electric field of the positive charge will be repelled. This is consistent with Coulomb’s law, which says that like charges repel each other. If we place the positive charge in the electric field of the negative charge, the positive charge is attracted to the negative charge. The opposite is true for negative test charges. Thus, the direction of the electric field lines is consistent with what we find by using Coulomb’s law.

The equation $E=k\left|Q\right|/r^2$ says that the electric field gets stronger as we approach the charge that generates it. For example, at 2 cm from the charge Q (r = 2 cm), the electric field is four times stronger than at 4 cm from the charge (r = 4 cm). Looking at Figure 18.17 and Figure 18.18 again, we see that the electric field lines become denser as we approach the charge that generates it. In fact, the density of the electric field lines is proportional to the strength of the electric field!

Figure 18.18 Electric field lines from two point charges. The red point on the left carries a charge of +1 nC, and the blue point on the right carries a charge of –1 nC. The arrows point in the direction that a positive test charge would move. The field lines are denser as you approach the point charge.

Electric-field maps can be made for several charges or for more complicated charge distributions. The electric field due to multiple charges may be found by adding together the electric field from each individual charge. Because this sum can only be a single number, we know that only a single electric-field line can go through any given point. In other words, electric-field lines cannot cross each other.

Figure 18.19(a) shows a two-dimensional map of the electric field generated by a charge of +q and a nearby charge of −q. The three-dimensional version of this map is obtained by rotating this map about the axis that goes through both charges. A positive test charge placed in this field would experience a force in the direction of the field lines at its location. It would thus be repelled from the positive charge and attracted to the negative charge. Figure 18.19(b) shows the electric field generated by two charges of −q. Note how the field lines tend to repel each other and do not overlap. A positive test charge placed in this field would be attracted to both charges. If you are far from these two charges, where far means much farther than the distance between the charges, the electric field looks like the electric field from a single charge of −2q.

Figure 18.19 (a) The electric field generated by a positive point charge (left) and a negative point charge of the same magnitude (right). (b) The electric field generated by two equal negative charges.