Electric

Field
• How can an object be charged and what
effect does that charge have upon other
objects in its vicinity?

• How can one balloon reach across space

and pull a second balloon towards it or push
it away?
 Looking Back...
1. Charge Interactions (action-at-a-distance)
2. Coulomb’s Law
3. Electric force (noncontact force)

4. Electric Field
ACTION AT A DISTANCE
(Charge Interactions)

The charged object affects

other objects that were in
its surroundings.
 ACTION AT A DISTANCE
• Action-at-a-distance forces are sometimes
referred to as field forces.
• The concept of a electric field or field
force is utilized by scientists to explain this
rather unusual force phenomenon that
occurs in the absence of physical contact.
 (ELECTRIC) FIELD FORCE
• A charged object
creates an electric field
- an alteration of the
space in the region that
surrounds it.
• Electric forces are
exerted upon those
charged objects when
they enter that space.
 A Stinky Analogy

In the same manner, an electric charge creates an

electric field – it has altered the nature of the space
surrounding the charge. And if another charge gets
near enough, that charge will sense that there is an
effect when present in that surrounding space.
 The Concept of a Field
A field is defined as a property of space in which a material
object experiences a force.

Above earth, we say there is a

Pm . gravitational field at P.
F
Because a mass m experiences a
downward force at that point.
No force, no field;
No field, no force!
The direction of the field is determined by the force.
 The Concept of a Field
• All charged objects create an electric field that
extends outward into the space that surrounds it.
•The charge alters that space, causing any other
charged object that enters the space to be affected
by this field.
•The strength of the electric field is dependent
upon how charged the object creating the field is
and upon the distance of separation from the
charged object.
 ELECTRIC FIELD
• It is the area or field around a charge where the
electrostatic force can be experienced.
•An electric field coexists with every electrostatic
charge ; it associates with each point in space the
electrostatic force experienced per unit of electric
charge by an extremely small test charge at that
point.
ELECTRIC FIELD STRENGTH
REVISITING Coulomb’s Law
 REVISITING Coulomb’s Law

The new formula for electric field strength (shown

inside the box) expresses the field strength in terms of
the two variables that affect it.
The electric field strength is dependent upon the
quantity of charge on the source charge (Q) and the
distance of separation (d) from the source charge.
Examples:
1. Calculate the electric field that a test
charge will experience if the distance from
the source charge of +5.02 x 10-13 is 2.04 x
10-3 m.
2. A charge of +3.0 x 10-8 C experiences an
electrostatic force of 6.0 x 10-8 N.
Compute the force per coulomb that the
charge experiences.
Examples:
3. Compute the electric field experienced by
a test charge q = +0.80 μC from a source
charge Q = +15 μC in a vacuum when the
test charge is placed 0.20 m away from the
other charge.
 AN INVERSE SQUARE LAW
• The strength of an electric field as created
by source charge Q is inversely related to
square of the distance from the source.
• Electric field strength is location dependent,
and its magnitude decreases as the distance
from a location to the source increases.
 AN INVERSE SQUARE LAW
• So if separation distance
increases by a factor of 2, the
electric field strength
decreases by a factor of 4 (22).
• If separation distance
decreases by a factor of 2, the
electric field strength increases
by a factor of 4 (22).
 The Direction of the Electric
Field Vector
• The precise direction of the force is
dependent upon whether the test charge and
the source charge have the same type of
charge (in which repulsion occurs) or the
opposite type of charge (in which attraction
occurs).
 The Direction of the Electric
Field Vector
• The worldwide convention that is used by
scientists is:
To define the direction of the electric field
vector as the direction that a positive test
charge is pushed or pulled when in the
presence of the electric field.
 In Conclusion….
• Positive Source Charge – electric field
vector would always be directed away from
positively charged objects

• Negative Source Charge - electric field

vectors are always directed towards
negatively charged objects.
 Electric Field Lines
• Since electric field is a vector, it can be
represented by a vector arrow.
• Rather than draw countless vector arrows in
the space surrounding a source charge, it is
perhaps more useful to draw a pattern of
several lines that extend between infinity
and the source charge.
 Electric Field Lines
• These pattern of lines, sometimes referred
to as electric field lines, point in the
direction that a positive test charge would
accelerate if placed upon the line.
More Sample Problems
1. What is the strength of an electric field that
is affecting a test charge at a distance of
0.90 cm. The amount of charge on the
source charge is 0.20 C.
2. In the lab, you have an electric field with a
strength of 2,160 N/C. If the force
experienced by a test charge within the
field is 0.01296 N, what is the magnitude
of the test charge?
 POINTERS
(STM 129)
STATIC ELECTRICITY
1. Basic Terminologies/Concepts
2. Methods of Charging
3. Electric Force
4. Electric Field
 POINTERS
(STM 129)
Type of Test
1. MCQ (30 pts)
2. Modified T/F (20 pts)
3. Matching Type (10 pts)
4. Problem-Solving (15 pts)