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Home Minds On Static Electricity Mission SE11 Electric Field Equation Help Help 2

Mission SE11 Electric Field Equation

The Question

A charge Q creates an electric field; a test charge q is placed a distance d away in order to measure the strength of the electric field (E) at that location. A doubling of the amount of charge on Q would ___.

Formula Fix

The electric field strength (E) at a given location about a source charge is dependent upon the quantity of charge on the source charge (Q) and the distance that the location is from the source (d). The dependency between electric field strength, the quantity of charge on the source charge, and the distance from the source is expressed by the equation
E = k • Q / d2

Think About It

The electric field strength (E) at a given location about a source is directly proportional to the quantity of charge on the source (Q). See Formula Frenzy section. An increase in the quantity of charge leads to an increase in the electric field strength. In fact, the electric field strength will increase by the same factor that the quantity of charge on the source increases.

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