Repulsive Force / Field

Click on the 'field' button to make the lines of force visible. You will see the field created by the fixed charge at any point, whether or not there is a test charge (blue vector). A force will exist only if you place a charge on this pre-existing electric field (Remember a charge never experiences its own electrical field).

Click once on the screen at the point where you want a positive test charge to be. You will then see the force experienced by this test charge (red vector). According Coulomb's law, the field is function of the distance to the fixed positive charge (the force as well)

Click a second time to release the test charge. The charge is then accelerated outward.

• To illustrate how a single positive charge will experience a repulsive force due to the presence of another single fixed positive charge.
• To show the existence of an electric field at any point even when there is no test charge.

Click on 'field' to make the field lines visible.

Click once to create a single positive charge. Click a second time to release it.