Why would it have 2 possible paths?cragar said:I don't think we can because then a charged particle traveling through the field would have 2 possible paths after reaching the intersection point.
Ah... I misread your post. I thought you were asking about E and B lines crossing each other.cragar said:If I had 2 E field lines cross at say right angles, when I draw the field lines, If an electron came to this crossing how would it know which way to go. Which E field line would it follow if there were 2 branching out?
An electric field line is a concept used to represent the direction and strength of an electric field. It is a visual tool that helps us visualize the electric field and understand its behavior.
Electric field lines are drawn by placing a small test charge in the electric field and tracing its path. The lines are drawn in such a way that they are tangent to the electric field at every point, and the density of lines represents the strength of the electric field.
When electric field lines intersect, it means that there are two or more electric fields acting in the same region. The direction of the field at the intersection point is the vector sum of the individual fields.
Equilibrium in terms of electric field lines means that the net electric field at any point is zero. This can occur when two or more electric fields are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction, canceling each other out.
The density of electric field lines can be used to determine the strength of an electric field. The closer the lines are together, the stronger the electric field. The number of lines per unit area is directly proportional to the strength of the electric field.