4.

The Electric Field

The electric force exerted by one charge on another is an example of an action-at a

distance force, similar to the gravitational force exerted by one mass on another.
The idea of action at a distance presents a difficult conceptual challenge.
What is the mechanism by which one particle can exert a force on another across the empty
space between the particles?
To address the challenge of action at a distance, the concept of the electric field is
introduced.

One charge produces an electric field ⃗𝑬 everywhere in space, and this field exerts the force
on the second charge.

Thus, it is the field ⃗𝑬 at the location of the second charge that exerts the force on it, not the
first charge itself (which is some distance away).
Changes in the field propagate through space at the speed of light, 𝒄. Thus, if a charge is
suddenly moved, the force it exerts on a second charge a distance away does not change
until a time 𝒓⁄𝒄 later.
Figure (1) shows a set of point charges 𝒒𝟏 , 𝒒𝟐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒒𝟑 and arbitrarily arranged in space.
⃗ everywhere in space.
These charges produce an electric field 𝑬
If we place a small positive test charge 𝒒𝒐 at some point near the three charges, there will
be a force exerted on due to the other charges.
⃗𝑭 = ⃗𝑭𝟏𝟎 + ⃗𝑭𝟐𝟎 + ⃗𝑭𝟑𝟎

Figure (1) A small test charge 𝒒𝒐 in the vicinity of a system of charges 𝒒𝟏 , 𝒒𝟐 , 𝒒𝟑 .

1
The net force on 𝒒𝒐 is the vector sum of the individual forces exerted on 𝒒𝒐 by the other
charges in the system.
Because each of these forces is proportional to 𝒒𝒐 the net force will be proportional to 𝒒𝒐 .
⃗ at a point is this force divided by 𝒒𝒐 ,
The electric field 𝑬
⃗
𝑭
⃗𝑬
⃗ = (𝒒𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍) (𝟏)
𝒒𝒐

The SI unit of the electric field is the newton per coulomb (𝑵⁄𝑪).

In addition, the test charge 𝒒𝒐 will exert a force on each of the other point charges (Fig. 2).
The electric field ⃗𝑬 at the location in question is actually defined by Eqn. (1), but in the
limit that 𝒒𝒐 approaches zero.

Figure (2) The test charge 𝒒𝒐 also exerts a force on each of the surrounding charges.

⃗ is a vector function of position.

The electric field 𝑬
The force exerted on a test charge 𝒒𝒐 at any point is related to the electric field at that point
by
⃗𝑭 = 𝒒𝒐 ⃗𝑬
⃗ (𝟐)
⃗ due to a single point charge can be calculated from Coulomb’s law.
The electric field 𝑬
Consider a small, positive test charge 𝒒𝒐 at some point 𝑷 a distance 𝒓𝒊𝒑 away from a charge
𝒒𝒊 The force on 𝒒𝒐 is
𝒒𝒊 𝒒𝒐
⃗ 𝒊𝒐 = 𝒌
𝑭 𝒓̂𝒊𝒑
𝒓𝟐𝒊𝒑

The electric field at point P due to charge 𝒒𝒊 , Fig. (3), is thus

⃗ 𝒊𝑷
𝑭 𝟏 𝒒𝒊 𝒒𝒐
⃗𝑬
⃗ 𝒊𝑷 = = × 𝒌 𝟐 𝒓̂𝒊𝒑
𝒒𝒐 𝒒𝒐 𝒓𝒊𝒑

2
 𝒒𝒊
∴ ⃗𝑬𝒊𝑷 = 𝒌 𝒓̂𝒊𝒑 (𝟑)
𝒓𝟐𝒊𝒑

⃗ at a field point 𝑷 due to charge 𝒒𝒊 at a source point i.

Figure (3) The electric field 𝑬

Where, 𝒓̂𝒊𝒑 is the unit vector pointing from the source point 𝒊 to the field point 𝑷.

The resultant electric field at 𝑷 due to a distribution of point charges is found by summing
the fields due to each charge separately:

⃗𝑬
⃗ 𝑷 = ∑ ⃗𝑬
⃗ 𝒊𝑷 (𝟒)
𝒊

That is, electric fields follow the principle of superposition.

Example 7: Electric Field on a Line through Two Positive Point Charges

A positive point charge 𝒒𝟏 = +𝟖 𝒏𝑪 is on the 𝒙 𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒔 at 𝒙 = 𝒙𝟏 = −𝟏. 𝟎 𝒎, and a second
positive point charge 𝒒𝟐 = +𝟏𝟐 𝒏𝑪 is on the 𝒙 𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒔 at 𝒙 = 𝒙𝟐 = 𝟑. 𝟎 𝒎.
Find the net electric field
(a) at point A on the 𝒙 𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒔 at 𝒙 = 𝟔. 𝟎 𝒎 and
(b) at point B on the 𝒙 𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒔 at 𝒙 = 𝟐. 𝟎 𝒎.

Solution:
Let ⃗𝑬
⃗ 𝟏 and ⃗𝑬
⃗ 𝟐 be the electric fields due to 𝒒𝟏 and 𝒒𝟏 , respectively.

⃗ 𝟏 points away from 𝒒𝟏 everywhere, and because 𝒒𝟐 is positive, 𝑬

Because 𝒒𝟏 is positive, 𝑬 ⃗⃗ 𝟐
points away from 𝒒𝟐 everywhere.
We calculate the resultant field using
⃗ =𝑬
𝑬 ⃗ 𝟏+𝑬
⃗⃗ 𝟐

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(a) 1. Draw the charge configuration and place the field point 𝑨 on the 𝒙 𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒔 at the
appropriate place.
Draw vectors representing the electric field at 𝑨 due to each point charge.
Repeat this procedure for field point 𝑩 (Fig. 4):

Figure (4)

2. Calculate ⃗𝑬
⃗ at point 𝑨 using,

𝒓𝟏𝑨 = 𝒙𝑨 − 𝒙𝟏 = 𝟔. 𝟎 𝒎 − (−𝟏. 𝟎 𝒎) = 𝟕. 𝟎 𝒎
and
𝒓𝟐𝑨 = 𝒙𝑨 − 𝒙𝟐 = 𝟔. 𝟎 𝒎 − (𝟑. 𝟎 𝒎) = 𝟑. 𝟎 𝒎
𝒓̂𝟏𝑨 = 𝒊̂ & 𝒓̂𝟐𝑨 = 𝒊̂
𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐 𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐
⃗𝑬 = ⃗𝑬𝟏 + ⃗𝑬
⃗𝟐=𝒌 𝒓̂𝟏𝑨 + 𝒌 𝟐 𝒓̂𝟐𝑨 = 𝒌 𝒊̂ + 𝒌 𝒊̂
𝟐 (𝒙𝑨 − 𝒙𝟏 ) 𝟐 (𝒙𝑨 − 𝒙𝟐 )𝟐
𝒓𝟏𝑨 𝒓𝟐𝑨
(+𝟖 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 𝑪) (+𝟏𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 𝑪)
⃗⃗ = (𝟖. 𝟗𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪𝟐 )
𝑬 𝒊̂ + (𝟖. 𝟗𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎 𝟗
𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎 𝟐⁄ 𝟐)
𝑪 𝒊̂
(𝟕. 𝟎 𝒎)𝟐 (𝟑. 𝟎 𝒎)𝟐
(𝟖. 𝟗𝟗 × 𝟖 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪) (𝟖. 𝟗𝟗 × 𝟏𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪)
⃗⃗ =
𝑬 𝒊̂ + 𝒊̂
𝟒𝟗. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐 𝟗. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐
(𝟕𝟏. 𝟗𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗−𝟗 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪) (𝟏𝟎𝟕. 𝟖𝟖 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗−𝟗 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪)
⃗𝑬 = 𝒊̂ + 𝒊̂
𝟒𝟗. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐 𝟗. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐
(𝟕𝟏. 𝟗𝟐 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪) (𝟏𝟎𝟕. 𝟖𝟖 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪)
= 𝒊̂ + 𝒊̂
𝟒𝟗. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐 𝟗. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐
⃗⃗ = (𝟏. 𝟒𝟕 𝑵⁄𝑪)𝒊̂ + (𝟏𝟏. 𝟗𝟗 𝑵⁄𝑪)𝒊̂
𝑬
⃗𝑬
⃗ = (𝟏𝟑. 𝟒𝟔 𝑵⁄𝑪)𝒊̂ ≈ (𝟏𝟑. 𝟓 𝑵⁄𝑪)𝒊̂

b. Calculate ⃗𝑬 at point 𝑩 using,

𝒓𝟏𝑩 = |𝒙𝑩 − 𝒙𝟏 | = 𝟐. 𝟎 𝒎 − (−𝟏. 𝟎 𝒎) = 𝟑. 𝟎 𝒎
and

4
 𝒓𝟐𝑩 = |𝒙𝑩 − 𝒙𝟐 | = |𝟐. 𝟎 𝒎 − (𝟑. 𝟎 𝒎)| = 𝟏. 𝟎 𝒎
𝒓̂𝟏𝑨 = 𝒊̂ & 𝒓̂𝟐𝑨 = −𝒊̂
𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐 𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐
⃗⃗ = 𝑬
𝑬 ⃗ 𝟏+𝑬
⃗𝟐=𝒌 𝒓̂𝟏𝑩 + 𝒌 𝟐 𝒓̂𝟐𝑩 = 𝒌 𝒊̂ − 𝒌 𝒊̂
𝟐 (𝒙𝑩 − 𝒙𝟏 ) 𝟐 (𝒙𝑩 − 𝒙𝟐 )𝟐
𝒓𝟏𝑩 𝒓𝟐𝑩
(+𝟖 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 𝑪) (+𝟏𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 𝑪)
⃗𝑬
⃗ = (𝟖. 𝟗𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪𝟐 ) 𝟗 𝟐 𝟐
𝒊̂ − (𝟖. 𝟗𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎 ⁄𝑪 ) 𝒊̂
(𝟑. 𝟎 𝒎)𝟐 (𝟏. 𝟎 𝒎)𝟐
(𝟖. 𝟗𝟗 × 𝟖 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪) (𝟖. 𝟗𝟗 × 𝟏𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪)
⃗𝑬
⃗ = 𝒊̂ − 𝒊̂
𝟗. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐 𝟏. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐
(𝟕𝟏. 𝟗𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗−𝟗 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪) (𝟏𝟎𝟕. 𝟖𝟖 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗−𝟗 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪)
⃗ =
𝑬 𝒊̂ − 𝒊̂
𝟗. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐 𝟏. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐
(𝟕𝟏. 𝟗𝟐 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪) (𝟏𝟎𝟕. 𝟖𝟖 𝑵 ⋅ 𝒎𝟐 ⁄𝑪)
= 𝒊̂ − 𝒊̂
𝟗. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐 𝟏. 𝟎 𝒎𝟐
⃗𝑬
⃗ = (𝟕. 𝟗𝟗 𝑵⁄𝑪)𝒊̂ − (𝟏𝟎𝟕. 𝟖𝟖 𝑵⁄𝑪)𝒊̂

⃗𝑬 = −(𝟗𝟗. 𝟖𝟗 𝑵⁄𝑪)𝒊̂ ≈ −(𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝑵⁄𝑪)𝒊̂

The Part (b) result is large and in the −𝒙 direction. This result is expected because point 𝑩
is close to 𝒒𝟐 and 𝒒𝟐 is a large positive charge (+𝟏𝟐 𝒏𝑪) that produces electric field ⃗𝑬𝟐 in
the −𝒙 direction at 𝑩.

Example 2: Electric Field Due to Point Charges on the x Axis (Homework)

A point charge 𝒒𝟏 = +𝟖 𝒏𝑪 is at the origin and a second point charge 𝒒𝟐 = +𝟏𝟐 𝒏𝑪 is on
the 𝒙 𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒔 at 𝒙 = 𝟒. 𝟎 𝒎.
Find the electric field on the 𝒚 𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒔 at 𝒚 = 𝟑. 𝟎 𝒎

Figure 5
5
Example (3) Electric Field Due to Two Equal and Opposite Charges
A charge +𝒒 is at 𝒙 = 𝒂 and a second charge −𝒒 is at 𝒙 = −𝒂 (Figure 6).
(a) Find the electric field on the axis at an arbitrary point
(b) Find the limiting form of the electric field for 𝒙 ≫ 𝒂.
Solution:
We calculate the electric field at point P using the principle of superposition,
⃗𝑬𝑷 = ⃗𝑬𝟏𝑷 + ⃗𝑬𝟐𝑷

For 𝒙 > 𝒂, the electric field due to the positive charge 𝑬⃗ + is in the +𝒙 direction and the
electric field ⃗𝑬− due to the negative charge is in the −𝒙 direction.
The distances are (𝒙 − 𝒂) to the positive charge and 𝒙 − (−𝒂) = 𝒙 + 𝒂 to the negative
charge.
(a) 1. Draw the charge configuration on a coordinate axis and label the distances from each
charge to the field point (Fig. 6):

Figure (6)
⃗⃗ due to the two charges for 𝒙 > 𝒂.
2. Calculate 𝑬
𝒌𝒒 𝒌𝒒 𝟏 𝟏
⃗𝑬
⃗ = ⃗𝑬
⃗ + + ⃗𝑬
⃗−= 𝒊̂ + (−𝒊̂) = 𝒌𝒒 [ − ] 𝒊̂
(𝒙 − 𝒂) 𝟐 (𝒙 + 𝒂) 𝟐 (𝒙 − 𝒂) 𝟐 (𝒙 + 𝒂)𝟐
3. Put the terms in square brackets under a common denominator and simplify:
(𝒙 + 𝒂)𝟐 − (𝒙 − 𝒂)𝟐 𝒙𝟐 + 𝒂𝟐 + 𝟐𝒙𝒂 − (𝒙𝟐 + 𝒂𝟐 − 𝟐𝒙𝒂)
⃗𝑬 = 𝒌𝒒 [ ] 𝒊̂ = 𝒌𝒒 [ ] 𝒊̂
(𝒙 − 𝒂)𝟐 (𝒙 + 𝒂)𝟐 (𝒙 − 𝒂)𝟐 (𝒙 + 𝒂)𝟐

𝒙𝟐 + 𝒂𝟐 + 𝟐𝒙𝒂 − 𝒙𝟐 − 𝒂𝟐 + 𝟐𝒙𝒂 𝟒𝒙𝒂

= 𝒌𝒒 [ 𝟐 𝟐
] 𝒊̂ = 𝒌𝒒 [ ] 𝒊̂
(𝒙 − 𝒂) (𝒙 + 𝒂) (𝒙 − 𝒂)𝟐 (𝒙 + 𝒂)𝟐

6
 𝟒𝒙𝒂
∴ ⃗⃗ = 𝒌𝒒
𝑬 𝒊̂ 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒙 > 𝒂 (𝟓)
(𝒙𝟐 − 𝒂𝟐 )𝟐
(b) In the limit 𝒙 ≫ 𝒂 we can neglect 𝒂𝟐 compared with 𝒙𝟐 in the denominator:
𝟒𝒙𝒂 𝟒𝒙𝒂 𝟒𝒙𝒂
⃗𝑬 = 𝒌𝒒 𝒊̂ ≈ 𝒌𝒒 𝒊̂ = 𝒌𝒒 𝒊̂
(𝒙𝟐 − 𝒂𝟐 )𝟐 (𝒙𝟐 )𝟐 𝒙𝟒
𝟒𝒌𝒂𝒒
⃗⃗ =
𝑬 𝒊̂ 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒙 ≫ 𝒂 (𝟔)
𝒙𝟑
Fig. (7) shows 𝑬𝒙 versus 𝒙 for all 𝒙 for 𝒒 = 𝟏. 𝟎 𝒏𝑪 and 𝒂 = 𝟏. 𝟎 𝒎.
For |𝒙| ≫ 𝒂 (far from the charges), the field is given by
𝟒𝒌𝒂𝒒
⃗𝑬
⃗ = 𝒊̂ 𝒇𝒐𝒓 |𝒙| ≫ 𝒂 (𝟕)
|𝒙|𝟑

Figure (7)
Between the charges, the contribution from each charge is in the negative direction.
An expression for ⃗𝑬
⃗ is

𝒌𝒒 𝒌(−𝒒)
⃗𝑬
⃗ = 𝒆̂+ + 𝒆̂ 𝒇𝒐𝒓 − 𝒂 < 𝒙 < 𝒂 (𝟖)
(𝒙 − 𝒂) 𝟐 (𝒙 + 𝒂)𝟐 −
Where 𝒆̂+ is a unit vector that points away from the point 𝒙 = 𝒂 for all values of 𝒙 (except
𝒙 = 𝒂) and 𝒆̂− is a unit vector that points away from the point 𝒙 = −𝒂 for all values of 𝒙
(except 𝒙 = −𝒂).
Note that
(𝒙 − 𝒂) (𝒙 + 𝒂)
𝒆̂+ = 𝒊̂ 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆̂− = 𝒊̂
|𝒙 − 𝒂| |𝒙 + 𝒂|
7
Electric Dipoles:
A system of two equal and opposite charges 𝒒 separated by a small distance 𝑳 is called a
dipole.
⃗ , which is a vector that
Its strength and orientation are described by the dipole moment 𝒑
points from the negative charge −𝒒 toward the positive charge +𝒒 and has the magnitude
𝒒𝑳⃗ (Fig. 8):

𝒑 ⃗
⃗ = 𝒒𝑳 (𝟗)

Figure (8) A dipole consists of a pair of equal and opposite charges.

⃗ is the position of the positive charge relative to the negative charge.

Where 𝑳
⃗ = 𝟐𝒂𝒊̂ and the dipole moment is
For the system of charges in Fig. (6), 𝑳
⃗ = 𝟐𝒂𝒒𝒊̂
𝒑 (𝟏𝟎)
In terms of the dipole moment 𝒑⃗ the electric field on the axis of the dipole at a point a great
distance |𝒙| away is in the same direction as
𝟒𝒌𝒂𝒒
⃗𝑬
⃗ = 𝒊̂
|𝒙|𝟑
𝟐𝒌𝒑⃗
∴ ⃗𝑬 = 𝒇𝒐𝒓 |𝒙| ≫ 𝒂 (𝟏𝟏)
|𝒙|𝟑
and has magnitude
𝟐𝒌𝒑
𝑬= 𝒇𝒐𝒓 |𝒙| ≫ 𝒂 (𝟏𝟐)
|𝒙|𝟑
At a point far from a dipole in any direction, the magnitude of the electric field is
proportional to the magnitude of the dipole moment 𝒑 and decreases with the cube of the
𝟏
distance (𝒓𝟑 ).
𝟏
If a system has a nonzero net charge, the electric field decreases as (𝒓𝟐 ) at large distances.

In a system that has zero net charge, the electric field falls off more rapidly with distance.
𝟏
In the case of a dipole, the field falls off as (𝒓𝟑 ) in all directions.