Question

How would you explain to a friend who had never taken a physics course (a) what is an electric field? (b) what are electric field lines? (c) how does the electric field lines of a positive charge differs from that of a negative charge?

Answer 1

Electric field lines can be considered similar to pressure lines where the electric potential would be similar to a voltage.

One can draw pressure lines in a hose from a positive voltage to a voltage of zero at the exit of the hose.

If one were to reverse the voltage the field lines would also be reversed.

Note: at 100 lbs force at a faucet and a hose length of 10 m one would have a force drop of 100 lbs / 10 m of 10 lbs / m in the hose.

Practically one would never have an exit force of 0 lbs or no water would flow - but one can see the similarities