Electric Field And Field Lines

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When drawn around an isolated negative point charge on paper, electric field lines behave in a very specific way, so which statement is correct?

RankGuru · Accepted Answer

Field lines are a visual tool where the tangent at any point gives the field direction and the density of lines indicates field strength, a convention introduced in NCERT Class 12, Chapter 1 (Electric Charges and Fields). By definition the electric field points in the direction of the force on a positive test charge; near a negative charge that force is attractive, so the lines point radially inward toward the charge. A fundamental rule is that two field lines can never cross, because a crossing would imply two different field directions at one point, which is impossible. The option stating outward lines is wrong because that describes a positive charge, not a negative one. The option about closed loops is wrong because electrostatic field lines begin and end on charges and do not close on themselves, unlike magnetic field lines. The option about crossing at the charge is wrong because lines terminate on the charge rather than intersecting. A consistency check confirms inward radial symmetry: a single point charge has spherical symmetry, so lines must be purely radial with no preferred sideways direction.

Electric Field And Field Lines

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