Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Lesson 1.4
Electric Field and Electric Force

Contents
Introduction 1

Learning Objectives 2

Warm Up 2

Learn about It! 3

Charged Particles in a Uniform Electric Field 4
Superposition of Electric Field 9
Cylindrical Symmetry 10
Additional Useful Terms 17

Key Points 17

Key Formulas 18

Check Your Understanding 19

Challenge Yourself 22

Bibliography 22

Key to Try It! 23

Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Lesson 1.4

Electric Field and Electric Force

Introduction
Electricity is a phenomenon that pertains to the flow of charge. This motion of the charges
can power up a lot of things, including our television, electric fans, even our cell phones.
Before we talk about the actual complexity of electricity, we need to deal first with the idea
of a stationary charge. We know from our previous discussions that an electron is
negatively charged. Since it is charged, it can produce an electric field around it. This
electric field will be felt by another charge placed around it. In this lesson, we will be
discussing the electric field caused by systems of charges such as electrons or charged
particles along a wire.

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Learning Objectives
DepEd Competencies
In this lesson, you should be able to do the
● Predict the trajectory of a point
following:
charge in a uniform electric
● Predict the trajectory of a point charge in a field
uniform electric field. (STEM_GP12EMIIIa-10).

● Calculate the electric field due to a system ● Calculate the electric field due
to a system of point charges
of point charges using Coulomb’s law and
using Coulomb’s law and the
the superposition principle. superposition principle
● Solve problems involving systems of point (STEM_GP12EMIIIa-11).

charges. ● Solve problems involving

systems of point charges
(STEM_GP12EMIIIa-14).

Warm Up
Look at Those Charges! 15 minutes
Electric charges are usually not visible to the eyes. In order for us to see the interaction of
these charges, it will be helpful to do the simulation in this activity.

Material
● laptop

Procedure
1. Find a group with at least four members each.
2. Open the following link. It is better if you are going to use a laptop or computer in
manipulating the simulation.

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Charges and Fields

Michael Dubson & Amy Rouinfar, “Charges and Field,” PhET
Simulations,
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/charges-and-fields/lates
t/charges-and-fields_en.html, last accessed on February 20
2020.

3. Manipulate the simulation by doing the following:

a. Place a single positive charge on the platform.
b. Place a single negative charge on the platform.
c. Place two positive charges on the platform.
d. Place two negative charges on the platform.
e. Place a series of charges on the platform.
4. As you do the above situations, observe what happens to the electric field lines.
5. Answer the guide questions.

Guide Questions
1. At which charge does the electric field lines emanate from? Where do these electric
field lines terminate to?
2. What does the “shade of white” in the arrows represent?
3. Is it possible for an electric field at a point to be equal to zero? Why?

Learn about It!

From our previous discussion, we know that the electric field caused by a charge (q) at a
distance (r) at a specific test charge (q0) is given by the equation below.

This equation only gives us the electric field of a single source of charge. But in realistic
situations that involve electric fields and forces, we deal with charges which are distributed
in an area or space.

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

How do charged particles react to a uniform

electric field?

Charged Particles in a Uniform Electric Field

We know that an electric field is indicated by electric field lines. We also learned from the
previous discussion that electric field lines emanate from positive charges and terminate to
negative charges. We also note that the spaces between the electric field lines describe the
strength of the electric field—the higher the electric field line density at a given space, the
stronger the electric field. Let us consider the electric field between two parallel plates as
shown in Fig. 1.4.1. What can you say about the electric field between them? You can pause
reading at this point and write your answer in your notebook.

Fig. 1.4.1. Two parallel plates and an electron with a velocity v0 as it enters the region of the
electric field E

The field lines are traveling down from the top portion of the plate. With this, we can say
that the top plate is positively charged, and the bottom plate is negatively charged. The lines
are also equally spaced which suggests that the electric field is uniform between plates.

Now, let us look at an electron moving at an initial velocity v0 that enters the electric field.
We consider that the gravitational force that acts on the electron is negligible because of the
small mass of the electron. The electron followed the blue dotted line as it entered the
region of the uniform electric field. It happened because the only force that acts on the

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

electron is the electric force. It has a trajectory going up since it is being attracted by the
positive plate. This is just the same as the projectile, which was launched horizontally—the
projectile follows a trajectory going down because the gravitational field is directed
downwards.

What can you say about the motion of a positively

charged particle that enters a uniform electric field
going downward?

In a uniform electric field, a charge such as an electron in Fig. 1.4.1 will experience an
electric force described by

Equation 1.4.1

where F is the electric force, E is the electric field, and q is the charge that is exposed to the
electric field.

This equation is just a manipulation of our definition of electric field from the previous
lesson.

Let’s Practice!
Example 1
What is the magnitude of the force being experienced by the electron in Fig. 1.4.1 as it
travels between the parallel plates if the electric field has a value of 14 N/C?

Solution
Step 1: Identify the given in the problem.
The type of particle is given, which is an electron. The charge of an electron is

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

1.6 × 10-19 C.

Step 2: Identify what is asked in the problem.

You are asked to solve for the electric force experienced by the electron.

Step 3: Write the working equation.

Step 4: Substitute the given values.

Step 5: Compute the final answer.

Therefore, the electron experiences a force of 2.24 x 10-18 N.

1 Try It!
Calculate the electric force experienced by a proton that entered a uniform electric
field of 400 N/C.

Example 2
A stationary –35 mC charge suddenly experienced a force of 5 N, how much electric field
was the charge exposed to?

Solution
Step 1: Identify the given in the problem.
The charge of the particle is given which is –35 mC and the force which has a value
of 5 N.

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Step 2: Identify what is asked in the problem.

You are asked to compute the electric field that the particle experienced.

Step 3: Write the working equation. (Rewrite E in terms of F and q for convenience of
calculation from step 4.)

Step 4: Substitute the given values.

Step 5: Solve for the net electric field.

Therefore, the electric field at the position of the charge is 143 N/C.

2 Try It!
A 25 mC charge entered a region of uniform electric field. If this charge experiences a
force of 5 N, what is the magnitude of the electric field?

Example 3
If we change the particle in Fig. 1.4.1 with a proton, calculate the value of the electric field in
order for the gravitational force and electric force acting on the proton to balance out.

Solution:
Step 1: Identify the given in the problem.
The type of charge is given, which is a proton. A proton has a charge of
1.6 × 10-19 C and a mass of 1.67 × 10-27 kg.

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Step 2: Identify what is asked in the problem.

You are asked to solve for the electric field to balance out the force of gravity.

Step 3: Write the working equation.

We need to balance out the effects of electric force and gravitational force. Thus,

We know that

Then our working equation would be

Step 4: Substitute the values.

Step 5: Solve for the electric field.

Therefore, the electric field should be 1.02 ✕ 10-7 N/C, directed downwards to balance out
the effect of the gravitational force.

3 Try It!
What is the net force to a 5 mg sphere with a charge of 100 nC if you reverse the
direction of the electric field in Fig. 1.4.1 and an electric field of 1.02 ✕ 10-7 N/C?

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Superposition of Electric Field

Electric field is a vector quantity. This means that all of the rules that we discussed during
your General Physics 1 class about vectors can be applied in solving the total (resultant)
electric field at a point.

How can superposition be used in calculating the

total electric field at a point?

If we say that the charges are distributed, we can think of different charges that produce the
electric field. Let’s say that we have charges q1, q2, and q3. Then, we will have an electric field
caused by these charges as E1, E2, and E3. Therefore, a fixed test charge (q0) will experience a
force of F1= q0E1, F2= q0E2 and F3= q0E3. These forces are caused by the charges q1, q2, and q3,
respectively. From this idea, we can calculate the total force (F0) at q0 using the superposition
of force as

To get the total effect of the electric field E, we will use the definition of the electric field as

Using this equation, we will get

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Even if there are additional charges, this equation will still hold true. Thus, we can write the
total electric field at a point in a distribution of charges as

Equation 1.4.2

where E is the net electric field, and E1, E2, and E3 are the electric fields caused by charges.

To visualize the principle of superposition of electric fields, you can refer to Figure 1.4.2.
Notice that the total electric field at a point is due to the combination of the effects of the
charges.

Cylindrical Symmetry
It is a common skill in physics to see how an electric
field or other vectors cancel out just by looking at the
arrangement of the charges. Let us consider Fig. 1.4.3.
As illustrated, the line segment is uniformly charged.
What can you notice about the electric field along the
y-component, at point P? All of the electric fields along
the y-axis would just cancel each other out because, for

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

each positive vertical electric field, there is a corresponding negative vertical electric field. If
we get the sum of all of the y-components of the electric field caused by the individual
charges along the line segment, it will just be equal to zero. This is what we call the
cylindrical symmetry. Now, what will happen if we lay down the line segment? Then, all of
the x-components will be canceled.

Remember
Since the electric field is a vector quantity, we can always use a
free-body diagram as part of our analysis.

Let’s Practice!
Example 4
Two charges are arranged as shown below.

Calculate the electric field at point A due to the two charges.

Solution
Step 1: Identify the given in the problem.
The value of the two charges are given, which are –8.43 nC and –3.56 nC. These
two charges are separated by distances of 8 cm and 9 cm from point A,
respectively.

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Step 2: Identify what is asked in the problem.

You are asked to compute for the resultant electric field.
If we are going to draw the free body diagram of the problem, we will have

Step 3: Write the working equation.

Since the electric field E1 is directed to the left, it will be negative, and our equation
will be

Step 4: Substitute the given values.

Step 5: Compute the final answer.

Therefore, the electric field is -7899 N/C. The negative sign indicates that the direction of
the resultant electric field is directed to the left.

4 Try It!
Charges q1= 2 nC and q2= 5 nC are separated by a distance of 17 m. What is the
magnitude and direction of the electric field in the midway between their line of
separation?

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Example 5
Two charges are arranged as shown below.

Calculate the net electric field at point P.

Solution
Step 1: Identify the given in the problem.
The charges are given which are q1= –5 nC and q2= +5 nC. The charges and the
point form an isosceles triangle with equal sides as 15 cm.

Step 2: Identify what is asked in the problem.

You are asked to solve for the electric field at point P. It will help if the free body
diagram is also shown.

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Step 3: Write the working equation.

From the free body diagram, we can get the following relationship for the
x-component:

For the y-component, we can consider the symmetry:

So the electric field is only along the axis:

Step 4: Substitute the given values.

Step 5: Solve for the net electric field.

Therefore, the net electric field at point P is 1600 N/C, directed to the left.

5 Try It!
A proton is located at (0 m, 0 m) and an electron at (10 m, 0 m). Calculate the electric
field at (5 m, 6 m).

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Example 6
Two protons are placed at the top two corners of a square and two electrons at its bottom
two corners. Compute the net electric field at the center of the square. The sides of the
square have a value of 5 m.

Solution:
Step 1: Identify the given in the problem.
The position of the charges and the length of the sides of the square, which is 5 m,
are given. Both the proton and the electron have the same magnitude of 1.602 x
10-19 C but have opposite signs.

Step 2: Identify what is asked in the problem.

You are asked to solve for the net electric field at the center of the square. It will be
useful if the free body diagram is shown.

Step 3: Write the working equation.

In solving for the distances of the charges at the center of the square, we can use
the Pythagorean theorem:

We use c as the diagonal and a and b as the sides of the square. To get r as the
distance of a charge from the center, we divide c by 2.

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Solving for the electric field:

If we are going to analyze the problem, we will be able to apply the concept of
symmetry. All of the x-components will be canceled, and what will be left are the
fields along the y-component. Thus, we will have

Step 4: Substitute the values.

Step 5: Solve for the electric field.

Therefore, at the center of the square, the electric field is -3.27 x 10-10 N/C. The negative
sign pertains to the direction of the electric field, which is downwards.

6 Try It!
If the charges in Example 6 are rearranged in such a way that protons are placed at
the top left and bottom right, and the electrons are placed on the remaining sides,
what will be the electric field at the center of the box with a side of 8 m? Show your
solution.

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Additional Useful Terms

When the charge is distributed or arranged along a line, over a surface or throughout a
volume, it is important to define specific terms that will be needed as we go further in our
discussion. For a line charge distribution (e.g., very long and very thin wire), we use the term
linear charge density or the charge per unit length, noted by the symbol λ (lambda). This
has a unit of C/m. If the distribution is over a surface, we represent the surface charge
density as σ (lowercase sigma) with a unit of C/m2. Lastly, when the charge distribution is
through a volume, we indicate the volume charge density as ρ (rho) with a unit of C/m3.

Key Points
___________________________________________________________________________________________

● Electric field is a vector quantity.

● The net electric field can be solved using the superposition of electric field.
● Symmetry can be helpful in simplifying problems in a uniformly distributed charge
source or system of charges.
● Charge distributions are described by linear charge density λ, surface charge
density σ, and volume charge density ρ.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

Key Formulas
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Concept Formula Description

This equation can be used to

Electric force solve for the electric force
where
● F is the electric force; caused by an electric field to

● E is the electric field, and a charge.

● q is the charge that is

exposed to the electric
field.

This equation can be used to

Superposition of solve for the net electric
Electric Field where
● E is the net electric field, field at a given point is the
and vector sum of the electric

● E1, E2, and E3 are the electric field caused by the different

fields caused by charges. charges.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Check Your Understanding

A. Write T if the statement is true. If false, change the

underlined word(s) to make the statement correct.

_________________ 1. The electric field between two parallel oppositely charged plates is
uniform.
_________________ 2. A uniform field is noted by equally spaced lines.
_________________ 3. If the charge of the particle increases, the electric field it creates

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

increases.
_________________ 4. An electron will follow a straight line as it enters a region of
uniform electric field.
_________________ 5. The electric field at a point is the vector sum of the electric field
that passes through that point.
_________________ 6. In a uniformly charged vertical rod, the charges are positioned
along the y-axis.

B. Identify what is being asked in each item. Write your

answer in the space provided.

_________________ 1. It is the equation that describes the relationship between the

electric field and electric force.
_________________ 2. It is the charge of an electron in coulomb.
_________________ 3. It is the charge of a proton in coulomb.
_________________ 4. It is the field caused by a charged particle.
_________________ 5. It is a method that must be used to get the total electric field at a
point caused by individual charges.

C. Draw what is being asked on each item in the space

provided.

1. trajectory of a proton in the electric field shown below

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

2. trajectory of an electron in the electric field shown

3. direction of the electric field when a proton moves this way

4. direction of the electric field when an electron moves this way

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Unit 1: Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law

D. Answer the following problems:

1. How much force does a charge q1 = 25 mC experience when it enters the region of an
electric field of 100 N/C?
2. At a certain point, the electric field is 5 N/C and a specific charge experiences a force
of 5 ✕ 10-2 N. What is the value of the charge?
3. What is the electric field at the midpoint of two protons?
4. A positive charge and a negative charge are placed at (2 m, 0 m) and (–4 m, 0 m) in
the Cartesian plane, respectively. If the charges have a value of 2 mC and –4 mC,
what is the electric field at the origin of the Cartesian plane?
5. What is the line charge density of a wire with a length of 525 m, if a 25 nC charge is
distributed evenly through it?

Challenge Yourself

Solve the following problems:

1. How can you relate electric field and electric force?

2. Why can we not add the x- and y-components of the electric field caused by charges
to get the net electric field on a point?
3. Why do electrons tend to follow a curve line as it enters parallel plates even if there is
the effect of the gravitational force?
4. From the previous number, how can you justify that the electric field applied work on
the electron?
5. Can there be a zero electric field anywhere between a positively charged particle and
a negatively charged particle? Explain your answer.

1.4. Electric Field and Electric Force 21