Question

The electric field around a positive charge is shown in the diagram. Describe the nature of these lines.

Answer 1

The spacing between the lines give the strength of the field, and their direction gives the direction of the electric field

Explanation:

The electric field produced by a positive point charge has a radial shape, as shown in the figure. The arrows represent the lines of the electric field.

The spacing between the lines of the electric fields gives a measure of the strength of the electric field. In fact:

• The closer the lines to each other, the stronger the field
• The farther apart the lines from each other, the weaker the field

It follows from the figure that the strength of the electric field produced by a positive charge decreases as we move away from the charge. In fact, the expression that gives the magnitude of the electric field produced by a positive point charge is:

$E=\frac{kQ}{r^2}$

where

k is the Coulomb's constant

Q is the magnitude of the charge

r is the distance from the charge

We see that the strength of the field is inversely proportional to $r^2$, therefore as the distance increases, the strength of the field decreases.

Moreover, the direction of the lines also tells us what is the direction of the field. In this case, the direction of the field is away from the positive charge: this is because the direction of the field lines is equal to the direction of motion that a positive test charge would have if placed in this electric field (in this case, the test charge would be repelled from the central positive charge, so it would move away from the central charge).

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