Glossary term: Electric Field
Description: Electrically charged particles attract or repel each other via the electric force – like charges repel, opposite charges attract. In physics, it has proven practical to divide the action of one charge on others into two steps: Every particle that carries an electric charge is taken to produce a so-called electric field in the surrounding space. The force acting on a second particle is given directly by the direction and strength ("field vector") of the electric field at the location of that second particle: multiply the field with the value of the second particle's electric charge to obtain the force acting on that second particle. The force acting on the first particle is then of the same strength but in the opposite direction.
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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
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In Other Languages
- Arabic: المجال الكهربائي
- German: Elektrisches Feld
- French: Champ électrique
- Italian: Campo elettrico
- Simplified Chinese: 电场
- Traditional Chinese: 電場
Related Media
Electric Field
Caption: Electric charges, such as the positive charge (on the left) and negative charge (on the right) shown here, create an electric field around them. Parts of the field are shown in this image as field lines: lines that begin or end at one of the charges. These lines are directed, as indicated by the arrows along each line. Place a positively-charged test particle on one of the lines, and it will feel an acceleration in the direction of the line. A negatively-changed particle will feel an acceleration in the opposite direction to the direction of the line.
Credit: wikicommons user Geek3
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License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported icons
