Static Electricity - Mission SE12 Detailed Help

The three diagrams below represent electric field lines for a configuration of charges. Which diagram(s) correctly represent two like-charged objects? List all that apply ... .


 
Direction of Electric Field Lines:
Electric field lines are drawn to portray information about the strength and the direction of an electric field in the space surrounding a source charge. The electric field direction at a location about a source charge is the direction which a positive test charge would be pushed or pulled when placed at that location. Thus, electric field lines point in the direction which a positive test charge would be pushed or pulled.


 
If electric field lines are drawn for a configuration of two like-charged sources, then a positive test charge would respond in the same manner to each of the source charges. That is, it would be either attracted to both source charges or repelled by both sources. If the source charges are like-charged, a positive test charge could never be repelled by one of the sources and attracted to the other source.


 
Each of the three diagrams show the electric field line patterns for a configuration of two source charges. Each line has an arrow to reveal information about the direction of the electric field vector in the space surrounding the sources.