Electric Field

Cues Gaining Charge Analogy Electric Field What is the difference? Electrical Fields Electrical Potential

Gaining Charge How does a piece of matter become charged? What does a neutral charged atom look like? What does a positively charged atom look like? What does a negatively charged atom look like?

Analogy The electric field is the space around an electrical charge just like a gravitational field is the space around a mass.

Electric Field Space around a charge.

What is the difference?

Van de Graaff Generator Builds up static electric charges.

Electric Field Lines

Electric Field Lines of two Positive Charges

Electric Field Lines Lines that indicate the strength and direction of the electric field. The more dense the lines, the stronger the field. Electric field vectors are tangent to the curve. Simulation pointcharges/elefi_z.htmonline.cctt.org/physicslab/content/applets/ pointcharges/elefi_z.htm

Video Z2I Z2I

Which field is stronger? AB

Question If a test charge is moved to a location three times as far as its original location, how does the electric field change?

Electrical Potential Remember that all energy can be kinetic and potential. Electricity has potential: This energy comes from the charge particle has due to its position in an electric field. Because like charges repel, it takes energy to push a charged particle closer to another particle with a like charge. That energy is stored as the electric potential energy. These particles can move and want to/will when it is free to move.

Electrical Potential To push a charged particle closer to another particle with the same charge takes a certain amount of energy. As the particles move closer and closer together their potential increases.