Electric field is a special form of matter that exists around charged objects or particles and exerts a certain force on other particles or bodies with electric charge.
One component of the electromagnetic field.
Charged bodies interact with each other – they attract and repel each other.
According to Faraday and Maxwell’s teachings, the space around a charged object differs from the space around an uncharged object. In the space where an electric charge is present, an electric field exists.
If an electroscope is placed under a dome and the air is pumped out, the leaves of the electroscope repel each other. Therefore, electric interaction is not transmitted through the air.
Thus, it is a type of matter that differs from substances.
Electric fields cannot be felt with our senses. The existence of an electric field can only be inferred from its effects.
The electric field of a charge exerts a certain force on another charge that is placed within the field.
The force with which it acts on the introduced charge is called electric force.
In the experiment, it is shown that if a positively charged cylinder is suspended by a thread and a negatively charged rod is brought close to it, the angle of deflection of the thread will show that the field from the charged rod acts with greater force the closer the cylinder is to the rod. Thus, the field is stronger near charged objects and weakens as one moves away from them.
Electric field lines.
Since electric fields cannot be seen, the English physicist Michael Faraday proposed representing electric fields graphically using field lines.
Electric field lines, or lines of electric field, are imaginary lines along which a charged body is acted upon by a force from the electric field.
The direction of the field lines is taken as the direction in which the electric field acts on a positively charged particle. The density of the field lines indicates the strength of the electric field.
Properties of the field:
- It exists at any point in the space surrounding a charge.
- It weakens as one moves away from the charge.
- It possesses energy, as it causes the cylinder to move, deflecting at a certain angle.
- It can exist anywhere, even in a vacuum.