YOU ARE LEARNING:
Electric Fields
Electric Fields
An electric field is an area in which an electric charge experiences a force. The distance between the lines on an electric field diagram show the strength of an electric field.
Fill the gap: Oppositely charged particles ________ each other.
The movement of which subatomic particle causes an object to become charged?
Which of the following best describes an electric field?
A particle becomes charged due to the moving around of electrons. If we placed charged particles in a vacuum, they would either attract or repel each other, due to the charges. This is known as electric force. An electric field is the area where an electric charge experiences an electric force.
This diagram show an electric field
The arrows show in which direction the field acts.
In which direction are the particles moving?
A) Away from the negative charge towards the positive charge. B) Away from the positive charge towards the negative charge.
The image shows that the field acts in the same direction as one of the subatomic particles would move. Which one?
Fields lines always go away from positive charges and towards negative charges.
They have the same direction as the direction of the force on a positively charged particle, at a point in that field.
What do you notice about the lines? The closer they are to the charged objects, the _______ they come together.
Do you think the strength is "stronger" or "weaker" where the lines are close together?
The closer to the charged particle, the higher the strength of the field.
This is shown in an electric field diagram like this one, by the fact that the lines are closer together closer to the charged particles.
True or false? If you place a second charged object into an electric field it will not experience a force.
If we increase the distance between the two objects in an electric field, what will happen to the force between the objects?
If you place a second charged object into the electric field of a different charged object, the second object will experience a force. As the distance between the two objects increases the force between the two objects decreases.
This image shows the electric field around one point. We call this a "radial field".
Notice the direction of the lines away from the positive charge.
Is the strength of this field the same at all points? Answer yes or no.
This image shows the electric field strength of two charged parallel plates. What do you notice about the electric field strength throughout?
A) It increases as you go down the plates. B) It stays the same as you do down the plates. C) It decrease as you go down the plates.
The lines on an electric field diagram show the strength of an electric field. The closer the lines are together, the stronger the electric field.
In a radial field, the strength decreases as the lines move further apart as you move away from the point of origin. In a uniform field, the strength is always the same as the lines are always equidistant apart.
Can an electric field be used to explain static electricity?
We can use electric field lines to help explain static electricity. This is because static electricity is the discharge of charged particles from an insulator and electric field lines show us the movement of differently charged particles.
The diagram shows the two different ways the particles could discharge when they enter an electric field.
