Definition:Electric Field Strength
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Definition
Electric field strength is the measure of the intensity of an electric field.
It is defined as:
- $\mathbf E = \dfrac {\mathbf F} q$
where:
- $\mathbf E$ denotes the electric field strength at a given point
- $\mathbf F$ denotes the force exerted on a test charge $q$ by $\mathbf E$ at that point.
Electric field strength is a vector quantity.
Symbol
- $\mathbf E$
The usual symbol used to denote electric field strength is $\mathbf E$.
Its $\LaTeX$ code is \mathbf E
.
Dimension
Electric field strength has the dimension $\mathsf {M L T^{-3} I^{-1} }$.
This arises from its definition as:
- force, with dimension $\mathsf {M L T}^{-2}$
- per unit electric charge, with dimension $\mathsf {I T}$.
Units
The SI unit for electric field strength can be given either as:
The CGS unit of electric field strength is the electrostatic unit $\mathrm {e.s.u.}$.
Conversion Factors
\(\ds \) | \(\) | \(\ds 1\) | e.s.u. | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds 3 \times 10^4\) | volts per metre |
Also known as
Some sources give this as electric field intensity.
Also see
- Results about electric fields can be found here.
Sources
- 1921: C.E. Weatherburn: Elementary Vector Analysis ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text I$. Addition and Subtraction of Vectors. Centroids: Definitions: $1$. Scalar and vector quantities
- 1969: J.C. Anderson, D.M. Hum, B.G. Neal and J.H. Whitelaw: Data and Formulae for Engineering Students (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $1.$ Units and Abbreviations: $1.2$ SI units $(2)$ Derived units
- 1976: Ralph J. Smith: Circuits, Devices and Systems (3rd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $1$: Electrical Quantities: Definitions and Laws: Definitions: Table $1$-$2$: Important Derived Quantities
- 1990: I.S. Grant and W.R. Phillips: Electromagnetism (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $1$: Force and energy in electrostatics: $1.2$ The Electric Field