Electric Field: Definition, its characteristics, electric field lines, and its units.
Electric Field is a physical quantity that describes the effect of an electric charge on the space around it. It is defined as the force experienced by a small test charge placed at a point in an electric field. The electric field is represented by the symbol 'E'.
Characteristics of Electric Field:
- 1. Electric field is a vector quantity as it has both magnitude and direction.
- 2. The electric field at any point is defined as the force per unit charge experienced by a small test charge placed at that point.
- 3. The direction of the electric field at any point is the direction of the force that a positive test charge would experience if placed at that point.
- 4. The electric field due to a point charge decreases with the square of the distance from the charge.
- The electric field due to a positive charge is radially outward, while the electric field due to a negative charge is radially inward.
Electric Field Lines: Electric field lines are imaginary lines used to represent the electric field around a charged object. The direction of the electric field is tangent to the electric field line at any point, and the density of the lines represents the strength of the electric field. The properties of electric field lines are:
- Electric field lines always start on a positive charge and end on a negative charge.
- The number of electric field lines per unit area is proportional to the strength of the electric field.
- Electric field lines never cross each other.
Units of Electric Field: The SI unit of electric field is Newtons per Coulomb (N/C). Another unit of electric field is volts per meter (V/m), which is equivalent t
