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
A dipole field refers to a configuration where both positive and negative charges exist together in equal amounts, creating balanced electric fields. It is characterized by having two poles - a positive pole (north) and a negative pole (south).
Related terms
Electric Dipole: An electric dipole consists of two equal but opposite charges separated by a small distance. It is used to describe the behavior of molecules or atoms with permanent charge separation.
Electric potential refers to the amount of work needed to move a unit positive charge from infinity to a specific point in an electric field. It represents the potential energy per unit charge at that point.
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.