The Electric Field

The Electric Field is “the physical field that surrounds electrically charged particles” (Wikipedia).

Coulomb’s Law describes the electric force of one electrically charge particle on another. The electric field is similar, but describes the general effect of one particle on space in general.

For example, by plugging in for and for , we are asking: What effect does a particle of charge have away?

Whereas Coulomb’s Law asks: What effect does a particle of charge have on another particle of charge , away?

Another interpretation is that it is just Coulomb’s Law, but the charge of is .

Electric Field is in (Coulomb’s Per Newton).

Just like Electric Force, the total electric force at some point is the sum of all the sources of electric field at that point. This is the principle behind finding the electric field from Distributed Charges on Objects.