Electric Fields

An electric field is the area around a charge where any other charge will experience a force. We can model a field with field lines or lines of force.

Radial Fields

For a positive charge the field lines start at the charge and go out to infinity. For a negative charge the field lines end at the centre of a mass and tail back from infinity. We can see that they become more spread out the further from the charge we go.

Uniform Fields

The field lines are parallel in a uniform field. Between two conducting plates the field lines leave the positive plate and enter the negative plate.