Electric Field Lines

Also called

lines of force · field of a point charge · electric dipole · dipole field · two like charges · neutral point · uniform electric field · torque on a dipole · Gauss's law · electric flux · Gaussian surface · Coulomb's law · field direction · positive and negative charge · विद्युत क्षेत्र रेखाएँ · विद्युत द्विध्रुव · गाउस का नियम · विद्युत फ्लक्स

Topics

• Electric field lines start on positive charges and end on negative charges, or go off to infinity.
• The tangent to a field line at a point gives the direction of the electric field there.
• Lines are closer together where the field is stronger, and two lines never cross.
• Around a point charge the lines are radial: outward from a positive charge, inward towards a negative one.
• A dipole's lines run from its positive to its negative charge; between two like charges there is a neutral point.
• In a uniform field a dipole feels no net force but a torque τ = pE sin θ that turns it to line up with the field.
• Gauss's law: the electric flux through any closed surface equals q/ε₀, where q is the charge enclosed.
• A closed surface with no charge inside has zero net flux: as many lines enter it as leave it.

About this model

A GLB file of about 528 KB, shown in Lably's 3D viewer and, on a phone, placed in your room with AR. Credit: Model, science and animation: Lably (built procedurally with three.js; no downloaded meshes). | CC BY 4.0. Original geometry and animation made for Lably.

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