Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
An electric field refers to an invisible area surrounding an electrically charged object or particle, where other charged objects experience either attraction or repulsion forces.
Related terms
Electric potential: Electric potential is the amount of electric potential energy per unit charge at a specific point in an electric field.
Coulomb's Law states that the force between two charged objects is directly proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Electric dipole: An electric dipole refers to a pair of equal and opposite charges separated by a small distance, creating an overall neutral object with an electric field.