• Static is created when rubber belt rotates around metal "brush"

• Rubber belt gives away e- so it is +

• The metal ball becomes +

​How a Van de Graaf (VDG) works:

Electric Field

While the force is greater on the larger charge, the force/charge is the same.

This is called Electric Field

OPPOSITES ATTRACTS

LIKES REPEL

What is an Electric Field?

• Michael Faraday suggested the idea of a force field

to explain how the electric force can act at a
distance.

• An electric field is a property of the space around a

charged object that exerts forces on other charged
objects.

• You cannot see an electric field, but there are ways

to detect that an electric field is present.

Modeling the Electric Field

• Electric field lines are directed toward negative

charges and away from positive charges.

• Electric field lines act in direction of a POSITIVE charge

• Electric field lines are directed toward negative

Electric Field Lines Examples

​Positive Point Charge

​Negative Point Charge

Attractive Forces

Repulsion Forces