Electric Field

Electric Field

1. Electric Field Concept. Direct Interaction vs Mediated Interaction

   • As the earth’s gravitational field produces a force that interacts with the gravitational field of other celestial bodies, like the moon, an electric field of a charged particle interacts with the electric field of another particle.
     • This interaction will produce a force of attraction or repulsion.
       • If a body contains a specific amount of positive or negative charge, it generates an electric field around, which produces an attractive or repulsive force to the bodies nearby
         • Field lines provide a graphic representation of electric fields. The field lines of a positive charge will go outwards and the field lines of a negative charge will go inwards
           • The intensity of an electric field is related to the density of field lines. The more field lines are in a point, the more intense is the field.

2. Scalar and Vector Descriptions of Electric Field

   • The electric field is a vector because it has a magnitude and a direction.
     • Sometimes it is useful to know the components of an electric field at a given point in space.

3. Electric Field Superposition Principle

   • The electric field superposition principle states that the electric field of any charge combination is the vector sum of the fields produced by individual charges
     • If you want to calculate the electric field produced by a continuous charge distribution, divide the distribution in smaller elements and calculate the field vector produced by each one. Then, perform the vector addition of all the components.
       • An electric field is a force field produced due to the attraction or repulsion between electric charges on a certain body.