Electric Field Calculator

Calculate the electric field and potential at any point due to multiple point charges. This tool uses Coulomb's Law and the principle of superposition to compute the net electric field vector and scalar potential.

Key Concepts

• Electric field strength decreases with the square of distance (inverse square law)
• Positive charges create fields pointing radially outward; negative charges point inward
• Electric fields are vectors and add using vector addition (superposition principle)
• Electric potential is a scalar quantity that adds algebraically

Common Applications

• Electrostatics problems in physics courses
• Understanding charge distributions and field patterns
• Analyzing electric dipoles and multipole configurations
• Calculating forces on test charges in electric fields

Tips

• Use scientific notation for charges (e.g., 1e-6 for 1 microCoulomb)
• The visualization shows field lines (red for positive, blue for negative)
• The blue arrow at point P shows the direction and relative magnitude of the net field