Electric field due to system of charges
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Electric field due to a charge at a point is the force that a unit positive charge would experience if placed at that point .
The charge generating electric field is called source charge and the charge which experiences this field is called test charge . Practically , to keep source charge undisturbed due to the electric field of test charge , the test charge is kept infinitely small .
Since F ( Force ) is proportional to q ( Charge ), the electric field is independent of q but depends on r ( space coordinates ).
o The electric field is symmetric in spherical coordinates . o
The concept of Electric field is used to account for the time delay for a charged body to experience force from the field of a source charge .
Electric field due to system of charges
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According to the superposition principle , the total electric field at a point in space is equal to the vector sum of individual fields present .