Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
This electric force is conventionally called the electrostatic force or Coulomb force. [2] Although the law was known earlier, it was first published in 1785 by French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb .
The fact that the force (and hence the field) can be calculated by summing over all the contributions due to individual source particles is an example of the superposition principle. The electric field produced by a distribution of charges is given by the volume charge density ρ ( r ) {\displaystyle \rho (\mathbf {r} )} and can be obtained by ...
In electromagnetism and electronics, electromotive force (also electromotance, abbreviated emf, [1] [2] denoted ) is an energy transfer to an electric circuit per unit of electric charge, measured in volts. Devices called electrical transducers provide an emf [3] by converting other forms of energy into electrical energy. [3]
The electric field was formally defined as the force exerted per unit charge, but the concept of potential allows for a more useful and equivalent definition: the electric field is the local gradient of the electric potential. Usually expressed in volts per metre, the vector direction of the field is the line of greatest slope of potential, and ...
Electric fields are important in many areas of physics, and are exploited in electrical technology. For example, in atomic physics and chemistry, the interaction in the electric field between the atomic nucleus and electrons is the force that holds these particles together in atoms.
Representation of the electric field vector of a wave of circularly polarized electromagnetic radiation. The electromagnetic force is the second strongest of the four known fundamental forces and has unlimited range. [17] All other forces, known as non-fundamental forces. [18] (e.g., friction, contact forces) are derived from the four ...
The work can be done, for example, by electrochemical devices (electrochemical cells) or different metals junctions [clarification needed] generating an electromotive force. Electric field work is formally equivalent to work by other force fields in physics, [1] and the formalism for electrical work is identical to that of mechanical work.
Sparks — Electrical breakdown of a medium that produces an ongoing plasma discharge, similar to the instant spark, resulting from a current flowing through normally nonconductive media such as air. Telluric currents — Extremely low frequency electric current that occurs naturally over large underground areas at or near the surface of the Earth.