Moira is drawing the electric field lines around a pair of charges. One charge is positive, and the other charge is negative.

Question

A positive and negative sphere next to each other.

How should she draw the field lines?

away from each charge and meeting in the middle
away from each charge and curving away from one another
away from the positive charge and toward the negative charge
away from the negative charge and toward the positive charge

Answer 1

Moira should draw the electric field lines away from the positive charge and toward the negative charge.

Electric field lines originate from positive charges and terminate at negative charges. Therefore, if she has a positive charge (drawn as a sphere with a "+" sign) and a negative charge (drawn as a sphere with a "-" sign), the lines should start outward from the positive charge and curve toward the negative charge. This represents the direction a positive test charge would move in the field created by these two charges.