Electric Fields (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Co-ordinated Sciences (Double Award)): Revision Note

Electric fields

Extended tier only

• An electric field is defined as:

  A region of space in which an electric charge experiences a force

• The direction of an electric field at a point is defined as:

  The direction of the force on a positive charge at that point

• Charged objects create electric fields around themselves

  • This is similar to how magnets create magnetic fields

• An electric field is a vector quantity as it has both magnitude (strength) and direction