chapter 7 Electric field.ppt

The electric field is a vector field. In order to visualize the electric field we draw a series of lines to indicate the direction at various points. P471 + 7.5 Electric Filed lines 19-8 radially outward radially inward Properties: 1. Field lines start on positive charges and end on negative charges. 2. Field lines are never closed; field lines never cross . Direction: the field points in the direction tangent to the field line at any point. P472 Magnitude: the magnitude of the field is proportional to the number of lines crossing unit area perpendicular to the lines . P472 The closer the l