LECTURE 5: ELECTRIC FIELD

Specific objectives:
You should be able at the end of this lecture to:
i) explain the term ‘electric field’
ii) draw diagrams showing the electric fields due to single point charges
iii) draw diagrams showing the electric fields due to two point charges
iv) explain the term ‘electric lines of force’
v) state the mathematical definition of electric field
vi) explain the superposition principle as it applies to electric field
vii) state the expression for the electric field due to a continuous charge distribution
viii) solve simple problems based on the concepts covered in this lecture
5.1 Explanation of electric field
A point charge creates an electric field in the space around it. This field extends
outwards and follows the inverse square law i.e.
q
E α
r2 (5.1)
E is the electric field q the charge and r the extent of the field.
5.2 Electric field due to a point charge
The electric field due to a point charge is illustrated in Figure 5.1

a) +ve b) –ve
Fig.5.1: Diagram of the field due to a source charge (courses.lumenlearning.com,
2020 and physics.stackexchange.com, 2020)
5.3 Electric field due to two point charges
The electric field due to two similar a) (-ve - -ve) b) (+ve -+ve) and c) dissimilar (+ve - -ve)
point charges are illustrated in Figure 5.2
a)

a) b & c)
Fig. 5.2: Electric field due to two point charges (en.wikibooks.org, 2020 and
physics.stackexchange.com, 2020)
5.4 Electric lines of force
In §s 5.2 and 5.3, we observed that the electric field due to a point charge extends
outwards with the arrows going out from the positive charge.
The direction in which this unit positive charge moves as a result of the
electrostatic force is referred to as electric lines of force. These lines
are characterised by the following properties:
i) They originate from the positive charge and end at negative charge.
ii) They do not intersect anywhere.
iii) The direction of the electric field at any point is obtained by determining the
tangent to an electric line of force at the said point in order words electric field
lines are parallel to the direction of the electric field at each point
iv)The magnitude E at any point is a function of the density of the electric field
lines
5.5 Mathematical expression of electric field
It is defined as the vector field:
F̄
Ē =
q(5.2)
F̄ is the Coulomb force vector while q is the charge.
−1
The SI unit is volt per metre V m where
−1 −1 −3 −1
V m = N C = kg m s A (5.3)
5.5.1 Electric field at a point x0 due to a charge q1 placed at another point x1

A charge q 0 placed in a location x0 experiences a force F due to another charge

q1 located at any point x 1 .
The vector expression for this force on the charge q 0 due to the charge q1 is:
q0 q1 q0 q 1 q 0 q1
F̄=K =K =K r ^
2 1,0
r̄ 21,0 r̄ 21,0 ( x 1 −x0 ) (5.4)
If we apply the equation (5.2), then the electric field at the point x0 as a result of
the charge q1 is then given as:
F̄ q q q1
Ē ( x 0 )= =K 0 21 =K ^r
q0 q0 r̄ 1,0 ( x1 −x 0 )2 1,0
(5.5)
2
r̄ 1,0 represents the square vector of the square distance ( x1 −x 0 )2 and r^1,0 a unit
vector in the direction of the distance ( x1−x 0 )
For the equation (5.5), we note that:
i) It is an expression of the electric field magnitude and direction at any point
in x0 space other than x 1 where the charge is located
ii) It is a vector field
iii) The field is infinite at the point x 1
iv) The electric field due to a point charge is directed away from the charge in the
event the charge is +ve but is directed towards the charge for a –vely charged
body/particle.
v) The field falls away following the inverse square law as was observed in § 5.1
5.6 Electric field due to multiple charges (superposition principle)
Electric field obeys the superposition principle. Thus the electric field due to the
point source charges q1, q2qn is defined by the relation:
n
q1 q2 q3 qn qi
Ē ( x)=K
( r^ 1 + ^r 2 +
( x1 −x)2 ( x 2 −x)2 ( x 3 −x)2
r^ 3 +⋯+
( x n −x)2 )
r^ n =K ∑
i ( x i−x )2
r^ i
(5.6)
r
^i represents the unit vector in the direction x i− x

5.7 Electric field due to a continuous charge distribution

In §. 5.6, we focused on the electric field due to discrete charge
distributions (distribution from individual point charges). In this section
we will consider charge distributions having at least one nonzero
dimension. This type of distribution is referred to as a continuous charge
distribution. In determining the electric field in this case, the charge is
divided into infinitesimal pieces. Each piece is then considered as a point
charge. We can differentiate between three types of charge
distributions. These are linear (along a line), surface (across a sheet) and
volume. Conventionally a charge density λ , σ and ρ respectively is defined
for each of these with respective specified charge differential elements
dl , dA and dV as shown in Figure 5.3 (a-c).
 Fig. 5.3: Different charge distributions (a-c) with their differential
elements (https://phys.libetexts.org, 2020)
The electric field at a point x due to line, surface and volume charge
distributions are given by the equation 5.7- 5.9 respectively.
λ dl
Ē ( x )= K ∫ ( x ' −x )2 r^'
line (5.7)
σ dA '
Ē ( x )= K ∬ ' 2
r^
S ( x −x ) (5.8)
ρ dV '
Ē ( x )= K ∭ '
r
^
V (x −x )2 (5.9) r^
'

is the unit vector in the direction x −x '

The units of λ , σ and ρ are C m

−1
, C m
−2
and C m
−3
respectively.
Figure 5.3 (d) illustrates how the net electric field is determined by
combining some of the components of the total electric field.
5.8 Exercises
i) Draw the electric field lines around a) a +ve point charge q b) a –ve point
charge –q and c) a –ve point charge -3 q.
ii) An electric field exerts a force of 2.0 x 10-5 N on a charge of -1.6 µC. What is its
magnitude and direction?
iii) A 250 NC-1 electric field directed upwards exerts a force on a charge of 3.5 µC.
Determine the magnitude and direction of the force.
iv) A charge of 5.0 mC resides on the terminal of a Van de Graaff. What is the
magnitude and direction of the electric field at a point 2.0 m away from this
terminal?
v) Calculate the value of the point charge which produces an electric field of
magnitude 104 NC-1 at a distance of 25 x10-2 m.
vi) An electric field exerts a force of 4.8 x10 -17 N directed westward on an electron.
What is the magnitude and direction of this field?
vii)The direction of a 3 x 102 NC-1 electric field which exerts a force on a proton is
eastwards. What is the magnitude as well as the direction of the exerted force?
viii) A proton is put in an electric field of 5.0 x 106 NC-1. Determine its initial
acceleration.
ix) Three point charges q1(+1.0 µC), q2 (-2.0 µC) and q3 (+1.0 µC) are located at
distances 3.0 cm, 8.0 cm and 11.0 cm respectively on a plane along the horizontal
axis. What is the total electric field at the location 1.0 cm?
x) Determine the electric fields at each of the three locations given in ix) above
and comment on the values obtained.