ELECTRIC FIELD INTENSITY

It is defined at any point as the force experienced by unit positive charge placed at that point.

The electric field intensity at any point is the strength of electric field at that point.

If F  is the force acting on a test charge + q0 at any point, then electric field intensity at this point is given by

E = F/q0

Electric field intensity is a vector. The direction of E is the same as the direction of F that is E is along the direction in which the test charge  + q0 would tend to move.

The S.I. unit of electric field intensity is newton per coulomb.

Physical Significance

We can calculate the magnitude and direction of the force experienced by any charge held at that point in the electric field that is

F = q0E

After reading and understanding his article, reader will be able to answer the following questions:

1. Define electric field.

2. What is the relation between the electric field and force?

3. What are the S.I. units of electric field?

4. What is the direction of the electric field?

Reference: This article is referred from my authored book “concepts of electromagnetic field theory” having ISBN 978-81-272-5245-8. In case of any doubt in this article or any other EMFT or physics related article, kindly post in the comment section.