Prerequisites

Electric Field Lines

You probably already know the following facts about electric field lines:

  • The density of field lines is proportional to the strength of the electric field in that area;
  • Field lines only start at positive charges and end at negative charges;
  • Field lines never cross.
These rules can all be explained using Gauss' Law, since the flux of the electric field can be interpreted as counting the number of field lines which cross the surface.