Mission SE12 Electric Field Lines
Hold down the T key for 3 seconds to activate the audio accessibility mode, at which point you can click the K key to pause and resume audio. Useful for the Check Your Understanding and See Answers.
Consider field lines surrounding objects A-E below. Which of these objects are charged positively? List all that apply ... .
Electric field lines are drawn to portray information about the strength and the direction of an electric field in the space surrounding a source charge. The electric field direction at a location about a source charge is the direction which a positive test charge would be pushed or pulled when placed at that location. Thus, electric field lines point in the direction which a positive test charge would be pushed or pulled.
If there is a single source charge present, then the electric field lines are drawn radially about the charge. If the source charge is positive, then a positive test charge is repelled by it and pushed away towards infinity. If the source charge is negative, then a positive test charge is attracted towards it from as far away as infinity (or simply the edge of the paper). If there is a configuration of two source charges, then the electric field would either extend from the positive source charge towards the negative source charge.
Each of the three diagrams show the electric field line patterns for either a single source charge or a configuration of two source charges. Each line has an arrow to reveal information about the direction of the electric field vector. Each source charge is labeled with a letter.
