Electric field is force over test charge

The strength of the electric field at any point in space can be found by placing a so called test charge in that point and measuring the electrostatic force applied to the test charge. The resulting electric field is the ratio of the force applied to the value of the test charge.

Notes:

1. This is an operational definition of the electric field.

Conditions:

1. The test charge must be small enough not to disturb the existing charge distribution and/or fields.

Links:

1. Wikipedia, last formula in paragraph.

electric_field_strength

electric_field_strength.

Symbol:

E

Latex:

\(E\)

Dimension:

voltage/length

electrostatic_force

Projection of the electrostatic force applied to the test charge.

Symbol:

F

Latex:

\(F\)

Dimension:

force

test_charge

Value of the test charge.

Symbol:

q_0

Latex:

\(q_{0}\)

Dimension:

charge

law

E = F / q_0

Latex:

\[E = \frac{F}{q_{0}}\]