Electric Field Visualization
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Color Denotes Direction!
In this visualization, the colors shown actually show the direction of the field at any given point, and the transparency of the color shows the strength. While this can be confusing at first, such a method of showing direction and magnitude demonstrates how electric fields are *continuous* fields (as opposed to the traditional vector field visualization).
Below is a helpful image that will help with undertsanding what color means what direction:
But what are electric fields?
An electric field at a point denotes the strength and direction of the electric force generated from electrons and protons
The electric field generated by a single electron or proton loses strength according to the inverse square of the distance to the electron/proton (which is why the change in the transparency of the colors is not linear). For protons, the direction at a given point is away from the proton; for electrons, the direction is towards the electron (as shown by the two images above).
In order to find the net electric field at a given point, we are luckily able to simply add all of the electric field vectors together. This is what results in the colors in the visualization: the colors show the net electric field that results from this summation.
So, why not just use those arrows?
Traditionally, electric fields are visualized using a grid of arrows (called a vector field). The main issue with this representation is that there is no direct sense of continuity between arrows. By using color to denote the field strength/direction at any given pixel on the screen, it is easier to understand how the field's direction changes over even small distances.