The electric field

If you want to think a further step then just imagine that if you got an electric force, then you will also have a result.

That means you can see that something happens (in our examples it was the attraction of the charged ball).

But where does the result happens ? Just in a certain position or just at a certain position ?

The answer is, that there is a certain area which is influenced by the electric force.

This area is called the "electric field".

Such an electric field looks different for different charges and the charge next to it.

just take a quick look at this illustration :

electronic field with different charges

Here you can see in what area this field is very active.

So if you put a charge for example on one of the arrow, then it will move in the same direction as the arrow shows.

You can compare this with the force of the magnetic field between two magnets :

magnetic field - compare it ! Here you can see, that is is hardly the same as in the upper illustration.

So the handling with the magnetic field can be compared with the handling of the electric field.

So if you put a magnetic polarity in this field, the polarity will also move in the same direction as the arrows shows it to us.

So now you can go back to the explanation of our experiment or back to the atoms. Otherwise ckeck out the capacitor.