Definition:Line of Electric Force/Graphical Interpretation
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Definition
It is possible (and commonplace) to draw diagrams of lines of electric force to provide an illustration of the structure of an electric field.
This can be particularly useful when there are many charges present.
Hence, with the understanding about the various properties of lines of force, one can make a sketch of the lines of force without actually doing any mathematical analysis as such.
Such a diagram gives an indication of the strength of the electric field, because such lines of force are more densely packed where the field is stronger.
It is noted that the number of lines drawn is not significant.
However, what is significant is the relative number of such lines according to whether the field strength is higher or lower.
Sources
- 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