Slide 6 of 11
Notes:
Here is a simple configuration of electric charges -- two equal and opposite charges placed near each other. A computer was programmed to simply draw a line starting some place near the positive charge and always pointing parallel to the electric field produced by the two charges. We show eight such lines leaving the positive charge.
Theeffect is a field-line pattern, which is an even better way of visualizing the electric field than showing the field at grid points. Notice that the electric field looks like the trajectory a piece of cork might have drifting in a current from a faucet or upwelling (I.e. source) of water from the positive charge to a drain (I.e. sink) at the negative charge. That’s what is meant by a “line of flow.”
Two of the field lines in this picture are shown pointing in the wrong direction. Can you find them and correct the mistake?
