Introduction

For this activity, you will use the PhET Interactive SimulationCharges and Fields https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/charges-and-fields to investigate an electric field at various distances around a charge. This simulation has both positive and negative charges to place in the field. All charges are 1 nanocoulomb (1 nC = 1 x 10^-9 C).

There is also electric field sensors that can be placed in the field. These sensors give the magnitude of the electric field strength in volt/meter (V/m). Recall from theElectrostatic Presentation https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qjZcUNNLC_CTErE1O3kY0_3Du_QtIEuU17KZfkRKkoM/edit#slide=id.p9 that electric field strength is calculated using the following equation:

One volt/meter is equal to one newton/meter (N/m). Electric field strength is a vector quantity, therefore the electric field sensors also give the direction of the electric field.

Materials

An internet-connected computer

Procedure

Part 1 - Electric Field Lines

1. Open thesimulation https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/charges-and-fields/charges-and-fields_en.html. In the upper right-hand corner, check Show Electric-field, Grid, and Values.