electric fields

What is an electric field?

Region of influence around a charged object in which another charged body experiences a force due to electrical charge.

What occurs as an effect of the electric field?

2 charged objects can either move away from or towards each other.

Is an electric field scalar a vector?

Vector

What determines the direction and existance of the field?

Any charge that enters an electric field has a force acting upon it - The direction of the field in a particular place is the direction of the force it produces on a positively charged object.

Conductors

Materials through which electrical charges flow freely.cations and anions move in opposite directions when connected in an electrical circuit.

Semi-conductor

A class of materials with conductivities in a range between that of a good conductor and a good insulator eg silicon

Example of a conductor

Graphite

Insulators

Materials through which charges do not flow freely.

Examples of insulators.

rubber, plastic, wood

Electric current

The rate of the flow of charge

What is the formula for electric current?

I=Q/t

Q= charge in coulombs

T=time is seconds

I= current in Amperes

Note

Q= ne

Where Q is the total charge

N= #of charges

e=charge

Ohm's law

The current through an ohm conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference across it, provided that external conditions remain constant.

Formula for ohm's law

V=IR

Why is electric fields a vector?

It causes a force to act.

What does a large deflection of two objects mean

Strong force of repulsion

The reverse direction to the field occurs because

There is a negative charge

Electric fields start and end at what kind of charges?

Start of positive, end at negative.

The inverse square law

Force varies inversely with the square of the distance between two charged objects.