What is Electric field: Definition and 1000 Discussions

An electric field (sometimes E-field) is the physical field that surrounds electrically-charged particles and exerts force on all other charged particles in the field, either attracting or repelling them. It also refers to the physical field for a system of charged particles. Electric fields originate from electric charges, or from time-varying magnetic fields. Electric fields and magnetic fields are both manifestations of the electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces (or interactions) of nature.
Electric fields are important in many areas of physics, and are exploited practically in electrical technology. In atomic physics and chemistry, for instance, the electric field is the attractive force holding the atomic nucleus and electrons together in atoms. It is also the force responsible for chemical bonding between atoms that result in molecules.
Other applications of electric fields include motion detection via electric field proximity sensing and an increasing number of diagnostic and therapeutic medical uses.
The electric field is defined mathematically as a vector field that associates to each point in space the (electrostatic or Coulomb) force per unit of charge exerted on an infinitesimal positive test charge at rest at that point. The derived SI units for the electric field are volts per meter (V/m), exactly equivalent to newtons per coulomb (N/C).

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  1. Dezzi

    Electric field problem -- Repulsive force between two charged spheres

    I attempt to solve the problem in the picture below.
  2. R

    Electrostatics help please -- Electric field, potential

    Hello, any answers appreciated: 'Two spheres are 5 m apart. Sphere 1 has a charge of -20 mC and sphere two has a charge of -50 mC. (a) Find the strength of the electric field at the sphere's halfway point. (b) Find the electric potential at the halfway point
  3. A

    Conductivity and Electric Field relationship

    Okay so this is how it looks like,and there are the given values; a) I've tried it like this. So I now this formula $$ E = \frac{J}{\sigma} $$ where sigma is the conductivity value. Now to get E we need this formula; $$ U = \int_{l}{} E \ ds ] $$ Now to get U we can use the ## U = \frac{P}{I}...
  4. LCSphysicist

    Intensity and electric field amplitude

    Hello. I am having some trouble to understand the resolution of this question. We could easily try to calculate the electric field relative resultant at the screen. The problem i am having is about the amplitude of the electric field: Generally, we have that the intensity part dependent of the...
  5. Mr_Allod

    Depletion width of linearly doped PN-junction

    Hello there, I have derived the expressions for electric field and potential to be the ones above, then for continuity at ##x = 0## I set the electric fields and potentials to be equal to yield the expressions: $$Sx_p^2 = Kx_n^2$$ $$V_{bi} = V_n - V_p = \frac {q}{3\epsilon} \left( Sx_p^3 +...
  6. V

    Force acting on a charge across a hybrid medium

    The force on charge ##q_2## will depend on the electric field in medium with dielectric ##K_2##. Electric field in this second dielectric due to ##q_1## is ##E = \dfrac {kq_1} {K_2r^2}## where r would be the distance from ##q_1##. So, the electric field at the point where charge ##q_2## is...
  7. patric44

    A problem in graphing electric field lines

    hi guys our instructor asked us to try to graph the projection of the electric field intensity at a certain point p(x,y) , for two charges q+-q located at (-a,0) , (a,0), Now starting with the equation $$\frac{dy}{dx} = \frac{E_{y}}{E_{x}}$$ after transforming this equation I got...
  8. A

    I Drude model with and without an electric field

    Why in the Drude model without e-field no energy is transfer by electrons to ions, but when there is an e-field electrons transfer energy to ions ?
  9. mohammed

    Solving Electric Field Vector Problems Using Gauss's Law

    I'm preparing for exam but it seems I can't find problems similar to this on the internet. Here I will apply Gauss's law on the electric field vector to get the charge density. but the problem is that I can't find similar examples on the internet that uses direct vectors on Maxwell's equations...
  10. Ugnius

    Electrostatic potential and electric field of three charges

    So I started with b) and it there was no q2 this would seem reasonable I was wanted to ask , what effect does q2 have on potential of these two charges? Because it has to be given for a reason.
  11. Shreya

    Variation of Electric Field at the centre of Spherical Shell

    My approach is thus: the shell will have induced charges if it's conducting resulting in E at the centre of shell(though flux at centre will be 0). For non conducting spheres there can be no induction only polarization of dipoles, therefore the E field at centre will remain 0. Is my approach...
  12. guyvsdcsniper

    Why Does the Potential Energy Calculation for a Dipole Yield a Negative Value?

    So the change in potential energy is ∆U = Uf-Ui. Final minus initial. If i solve the above problem like this I end up with a negative value. The way the person in the attached work solved the problem, is they used ∆U = Ui-Uf. How are the switching Ui and Uf? What is it I am missing?
  13. guyvsdcsniper

    Help finding the Electric field at the center of charged arc

    I am having trouble understand where area circled in red. I get that lamda is Q/L. The charge is +Q. Length is pi/R/2. I am having trouble understanding why the length is pi/R/2? Is it because the circumference of a circle is 2*pi*R and since we have broken this problem down to just...
  14. Ugnius

    Thin Charged Isolated Rod -- Find the electric field at this point

    Hi , I've been trying to manage a solution in my head and i think I'm on the right path , i just need some approval and maybe some tips. So it's obvious I can't solve this without integration because law's only apply to point charges , and i can't shrink this object to a point as i could do with...
  15. Sagittarius A-Star

    COVID Electric field of moderate strength inactivates Covid-19 virus

    A science team from the university of Kassel (Germany) proved with a physical model, that a moderate electric field inactivates the Convid-19 virus. Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25478-7 via...
  16. V

    Dipole placed in a uniform electric field

    My understanding is that the uniform electric field ##\vec E## cannot be the net electric field since the dipole creates its own electric field as shown in first diagram below, which must superimpose with the uniform electric field. So, yes, the uniform electric field ##\vec E## around the...
  17. bob012345

    I Divergence of the Electric field of a charged circular ring

    In a previous thread* the field in a charged ring was discussed and it was shown to be not zero except at the center. In *post #45 a video is referenced that says the field diverges as one gets close to the ring and it was argued that at very close distances the field looks like an infinite line...
  18. K

    Electric field in a rotating rod in a magnetic field

    The first part of the problem seems easy enough, the free electrons in the wire would move in a circle owing to an electric field that would be induced in the rod which would provide the centripetal force for the same (Please correct me if I am wrong). So we have $$eE=mω^2x$$, where e is the...
  19. P

    A Phase diagram of Carbon at large electric fields.

    I am wondering if the phase diagram of Carbon has been explored at very large electric fields. Can one make any theoretical guesses ? In specific I am interested in Pressure Vs Electric field and Electric field vs Temperature at fixed temperature and pressure respectively.
  20. V

    Electric field at a point within a charged circular ring

    I have broken the ring into a top arc and a bottom arc. First, let's assume an imaginary charge of +1 C is placed at point P. We will determine the force on this unit charge from top and bottom arcs. The charges in the top arc will result in electric fields that will all cancel each other...
  21. F

    B Tangential part of the potential electric field

    Good afternoon to everybody. I have may be a stupid question according to the tangential part of the electric field near the surface of the conductor. Why is it zero? The normal part is zero on the distance of Debye cause of screening. But is this situation the same for horizontal direction...
  22. V

    Electric Field on the surface of charged conducting spherical shell

    When I look at the relevant equations, then there is no mention of field for a point on the surface of the shell, so it gets confusing. On the other hand, I feel the radial E will get stronger as we approach the surface of shell and magnitude of E will approach infinity.
  23. K

    Modes in a cylindrical dielectric waveguide

    I pretend to use the ecuation twice, once for the interior and another for the vaccum, so if I use the cilindrical coordinates for \nabla_t^2 it results in two Bessel equations, one for the interior and another fot the vaccum. In the vaccum, the fields should experiment a exponential decay, in...
  24. V

    Magnitude of electric field E on a concentric spherical shell

    The only explanation that I have seen in textbooks is that since the outer spherical shell is symmetrical relative to internal charged spherical shell so field every where on the outer shell is same in magnitude at every point on it. I can understand that electric field needs to be...
  25. Shreya

    Force on a dipole in a non uniform electric field

    I have figured out how the force is towards left in the first case. I think it is due to the larger force on - charge. Please help me out with the second and third case.
  26. Shreya

    Flux density and Divergence of Electric field

    I think Flux density is flux/Volume. Or is it flux/ Area Please be kind to help
  27. M

    Expression for the magnitude of an electric field

    k(q_1-q_2)/(R^2+x^2)^3/2
  28. B

    Show that the given electric field is a plane wave

    A wavefront is defined as a surface in space where the argument of the cosine has a constant value. So I set the argument of the cosine to an arbitrary constant s. ## k(\hat{u} \cdot r - c t) + \phi = s ## The positional information is is in r, so I rearrange the equation to be ## \hat{u}...
  29. H

    B Distribution of energy in the electric field surrounding an electron

    I am thinking about how an electric field has energy associated with it. If a single electron exists alone in a remote vaccuum, I believe it has it's own electric field surrounding it, and that this field has an energy content associated with it. My question is; does this electric field store...
  30. J

    Sketch the Electric Field at point "A" due to the two point charges

  31. Istiak

    The Electric Field and Potential Energy in a Spring System

    Solution attempt
  32. Eliasm

    Magnitude of the electric field?

    Zzzz
  33. uni98

    Electric field of wire and cylinder at one point in space

    I can calculate the fields generated by the cylinder and the wire but I don't know how to calculate their vector sum to evaluate it at point A. Cylinder field inside: ρR^2/2rε Cylinder field outside: ρr/2ε Field generated by the wire: λ/2πr I should break the fields into components but I don't...
  34. V

    A simple question in Electrostatics -- The separation of two balls in an Electric Field

    I used the concept of electrostatic induction, which would cause the charges in metal ball near the ebonite rod to have +ve charges on end next to rod and a -ve charge on the end touching the other ball. What confuses me is how charges separate on the second ball. The only way these balls can...
  35. V

    Uncharged capacitors connected in series

    I came across the following explanation from the famous book of Sears and Zemansky which I am unable to understand. I can get the initial part where a positive charge goes to the top plate of C1 since the point a is at a +ve potential causing free electrons to transfer from top plate of C1 to...
  36. meher4real

    Electric field between two parallel plates

    [New poster has been reminded to show their best efforts to work the schoolwork problem when starting a homework thread] My question is : An electron beam with velocity vector v = (0; 0.6x10^8 ;0) m.s enters between two oppositely charged plates parallel to the xz plane. - How large is the...
  37. eric11201120

    Expression for Electric Field Outside Sphere

    I'm not quite sure where to start. If someone could help me I would very much appreciate it.
  38. E

    Engineering Understanding the Relationship Between Voltage and Electric Field

    Hi guys ! I am taking phys102 course .I figured out that i didnt fully understand the concept that is the Voltage. Please look at this question. In this case we can see that there is no voltage in point C and there is no electric field is in point D and as you know V=U/q .So i always thought...
  39. S

    How does the strength of an electric field relate to its direction?

    I understand that negative charges create electric fields pointing inwards, and positive charges create electric fields pointing outwards, but what does this have to do with field stength? What is the relationship between field strength (flux?) and direction?
  40. H

    What is the maximum electric field magnitude between the cylinders?

    I used a couple ways to do this question, but I got neither correct. Can someone help, please? Thank you. 1. E= V/r = 700 / (60*10^-3) = 11667 (very far from the given answer) 2. E = (-kQ/r)⋅ dr = kQ/r^2 = kQ/ [( 1/20/ 10^-3)^2 - (1/80/10^-3)^2] (For this method, I stuck...
  41. V

    Find electric field intensity/density with given potential difference

  42. H

    The magnitude of the induced electric field inside a cylindrical region is proportional to:

    I used the equation below and the attachment to rationalize. https://www.physicsforums.com/attachments/282163
  43. A

    Moving electric field effect on dielectric/gas

    So I was wondering, can a moving electric field produce a drag force on gas for example similar to that which would result from physical blades moving the gas. Electric field applied to a dielectric if not as strong as to produce breakdown produces polarization. I wonder can this polarization...
  44. jay_chay22

    Find electric field separating two charged masses suspended on strings

    Please help me on this question I have tried to do it many times but I end up getting the wrong answers. I have show my work what I have done.
  45. S

    Electric Field Intensity: Intersecting E-fields Explained

    This the photo of my textbook, Here In the derivation of Electric Field Intensity due to an infinitely long straight uniformly charged wire - In the figure 1(c).20 Vector E1 and vector E2 are electric fields at point P due to the two line elements as shown in the figure 1(c).20. But, in this...
  46. Mayan Fung

    Electric field acting on the source charge

    I am reading Griffith's textbook on EM. There is a problem asking to find the force acting on the northern hemisphere by the southern hemisphere of a uniformly charged sphere. The solution idea is to find the expression of the E field by Gauss's law and integrate the force over the northern...
  47. Mayhem

    Electrostatics: Coloumb's law and the Electric Field

    Hi. How does the charge ##q## relate to the charges ##q_1, q_2## (see equations). For example, if ##q_1## is an electron and ##q_2## is a proton, is ##q## just a product or sum or something else of the two? Also, in Columb's law, how would I conceptualize charges ##q_1, q_2## in a system of a...
  48. P

    Work Done on A Proton in an Electric Field

    W=-qEd =-(1.6*10^-19)(23)(0.75) = -2.76*10^-18 J However, the answer is 2.76*10^-18 J. Why is the word done positive and not negative? Since it's traveling in the same direction as the electric field, shouldn't it be negative work?
  49. H

    Determining electric field using gauss's law--different distributions

    These are the 4 distributions shown, and I have to determine which two distributions (or none at all) can use Gauss's law to determine the electric field. So electric flux = EA = Q/electric constant. Since all of them have charges, I could do something like Q/(A*electric constant) to get the...
  50. naviakam

    I Estimating Particle Number in an Electric Field

    In an electric field ##E## if the energy of charged particle (ion) is formulated as ##W=qEr## where ##r## is the distance, how the number of particles is estimated?
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