Question

What is the significance of the electric field?

Answer 1

Hint: Electric field has its origin in electric charge. Electric charges are categorically divided into two types- positive and negative. All the living organisms are composed of charges. When a charged particle is situated at some point and then some other charge is brought to its vicinity then it experiences some force which can be attractive as well as repulsive.

Complete step by step answer:
Electric fields are produced by both types of charges, positive as well as negative. Electric field can be defined as the region in space around the electric charge where any other electrically charged object experiences a force. Mathematically electric field due to a point charge q can be written as,
\[E=\dfrac{q}{4\pi {{\varepsilon }_{0}}{{r}^{2}}}\]
Where r is the distance from the point charge and \[{{\varepsilon }_{0}}\]is the permittivity of the free space.
On the basis of the above formula we can define electric field as the electric force per unit charge. Electric field is a vector quantity and the direction of the field is taken to be the direction of the force it would exert on a positive test charge. The SI unit of the electric field is N/C.
Also, electric field is related to the electric force by: \[F=qE\]
For a positive charge electric field is radially outwards and for the negative charge electric field is radially inwards.

Note:
Electric field we can represent by drawing straight lines coming out for a positive charge and coming in for the negative charge. The electric field lines if they are closely spaced then it signifies the strength of the field and they are far apart then it means the field is weak. The field lines never cut each other because the tangent drawn to the field line shows the direction and if they intersect then there would be two directions which is impossible.