Electric field Definition and 1000 Threads

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. NoahCygnus

    Potential difference between two points in an electric field

    So I have been given a uniform electric field ##\vec{E}=20 V/m## in the direction as show in the image. I have been told to calculate the potential difference ##VC - VA##. According to the teacher (on YouTube) the potential difference ##VC - VA = -10\sqrt{2}V##. But I say it's ##-20 V## as...
  2. Shreya

    How does fringing of electric field help with boundary conditions?

    Please be kind to help
  3. V

    Relationship between E and V in space

    (a) Knowing ##E##, we can use equation (2) to determine ##V##. However, since ##\vec E## represents the distribution of electric field in space i.e. a function of (x,y,z). For example, ##\vec E = x \hat i + y \hat j + z \hat k##. Here we do not know this function so how can we know ##V## at a...
  4. bluesteels

    Why Doesn't the E*A Equation Work for Electric Flux in This Case?

    Electric Flux = E*A = 5*6(0.05)^2. when i look up at other sources they use Electric flux = q/ (8.854*10^-12 [this is e]) equation but I am confused on why the E*A equation don't work. The answer is 0.02Nm^2/C
  5. V

    Electric field due to a charged infinite conducting plate

    As shown in figure below, the electric field E will be normal to the cylinder's cross sectional A even for distant points since the charge is distributed evenly all over the charged surface and also the surface is very large resulting in a symmetry. So the derived formula should also apply to...
  6. VVS2000

    I Electric field due to polarized object

  7. F

    Engineering Find the electric field intensity due to a point, line, and plane

    Question: My attempt: Could someone please confirm my answer?
  8. Dario56

    I Energy Flow From Battery to the Light Bulb

    When we connect tungsten filament light bulb to the battery, filament becomes hot due to electrons losing kinetic energy in the electric field inside of conductor. Heat is eventually converted to electromagnetic radiation making light bulb shine. Light energy comes from flow of electrons and...
  9. F

    Engineering Calculating the charge if the electric field density = 0

    Question: Relevant Equations: My attempt: Could someone please confirm my solution?
  10. Z

    On which objects can we apply Gauss' Law to find the electric field?

    What am I missing? I also don't get the title of the section: "Charge distributions with enough symmetry for Gauss's Law". I thought Gauss's Law was valid for any closed surface enclosing a charge. I don't understand what "enough symmetry" means in the title above. I get that with symmetry...
  11. Z

    Electric field is constant around charged infinite plane. Why?

    Using Gauss's Law By using a symmetry argument, we expect the magnitude of the electric field to be constant on planes parallel to the non-conducting plane. We need to choose a Gaussian surface. A straightforward one is a cylinder, ie a "Gaussian pillbox". The charge enclosed is...
  12. Z

    Calculate the electric field due to a charged disk (how to do the integration?)

    I am interested in particular in the second integral, in the ##\hat{r}## direction. Here is my depiction of the problem: As far as I can tell, due to the symmetry of the problem, this integral should be zero. $$\int_0^R \frac{r^2}{(x^2+r^2)^{3/2}}dr\hat{r}$$ I don't believe I need to...
  13. Z

    Electric field created by two charged circular arcs?

    The strategy will be to figure out what ##dq##, ##\hat{r}_{dq,p}##, and ##r_{dq,p}## are, plug them into the expression for ##d\vec{E}_{p_r}##, then integrate over ##d\vec{E}_{p_r}## to obtain ##\vec{E}_{p_r}##, the electric field at ##P## due to the arc on the right. Then I will repeat the...
  14. F

    I Electric field of uniformly polarized cylinder

    Hi all, I have a doubt when calculating the electric field of a uniformly polarized cylinder P along its longest axis. The cylinder has length L and radius a. Using Gauss's law: $$\int D\cdot ds = \rho_{f} =0 \, \, (eq .1)$$ The electric field inside of cylinder would be: $$E =-...
  15. Hamiltonian

    The Net Electric Field Inside a Dielectric

    The net Electric field(inside the dielectric): $$E_{net} = \frac{1}{4\pi \varepsilon_0 \varepsilon_r} \frac{q}{r^2}$$ $$\vec E_{net} = \vec E_{applied} - \vec p$$ where p is the polarization vector. let charge ##q_{-}## be present on the inner surface of dielectric and ##q_{+}## on the outer...
  16. Dezzi

    Electric field problem -- Repulsive force between two charged spheres

    I attempt to solve the problem in the picture below.
  17. 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
  18. 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}...
  19. 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...
  20. 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 +...
  21. 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...
  22. 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...
  23. 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 ?
  24. 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...
  25. 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.
  26. 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...
  27. 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?
  28. 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...
  29. 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...
  30. 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...
  31. 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...
  32. 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...
  33. 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...
  34. 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.
  35. 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...
  36. 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...
  37. 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.
  38. 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...
  39. 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...
  40. 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.
  41. 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
  42. M

    Expression for the magnitude of an electric field

    k(q_1-q_2)/(R^2+x^2)^3/2
  43. 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}...
  44. 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...
  45. J

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

  46. Istiak

    The Electric Field and Potential Energy in a Spring System

    Solution attempt
  47. Eliasm

    Magnitude of the electric field?

    Zzzz
  48. 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...
  49. V

    How Do Charges Separate on the Second Ball in Electrostatic Induction?

    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...
  50. 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...
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