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An electric field (sometimes called E-field [1]) is a physical field that surrounds electrically charged particles.In classical electromagnetism, the electric field of a single charge (or group of charges) describes their capacity to exert attractive or repulsive forces on another charged object.
Therefore, the electrostatic field everywhere inside a conductive object is zero, and the electrostatic potential is constant. The electric field, , in units of Newtons per Coulomb or volts per meter, is a vector field that can be defined everywhere, except at the location of point charges (where it diverges to infinity). [8]
As such, they are often written as E(x, y, z, t) (electric field) and B(x, y, z, t) (magnetic field). If only the electric field (E) is non-zero, and is constant in time, the field is said to be an electrostatic field. Similarly, if only the magnetic field (B) is non-zero and is constant in time, the field is said to be a magnetostatic field.
The electric field () at any point is the gradient (rate of change) of the electrostatic potential : ∇ V = E {\displaystyle \nabla V=\mathbf {E} \,} Since there can be no electric field inside a conductive object to exert force on charges ( E = 0 ) {\displaystyle (\mathbf {E} =0)\,} , within a conductive object the gradient of the potential ...
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 ...
In electromagnetism, electric flux is the total electric field that crosses a given surface. [1] The electric flux through a closed surface is equal to the total charge contained within that surface. The electric field E can exert a force on an electric charge at any point in space. The electric field is the gradient of the electric potential.
In classical electrostatics, the electrostatic field is a vector quantity expressed as the gradient of the electrostatic potential, which is a scalar quantity denoted by V or occasionally φ, [1] equal to the electric potential energy of any charged particle at any location (measured in joules) divided by the charge of that particle (measured ...
This happens in time-invariant electric fields. When talking about electrostatic potential energy, time-invariant electric fields are always assumed so, in this case, the electric field is conservative and Coulomb's law can be used. Using Coulomb's law, it is known that the electrostatic force F and the electric field E created by a discrete ...