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Direction of Electric Field Lines:
Electric field lines are drawn to portray information about the strength and the direction of an electric field in the space surrounding a source charge. The electric field direction at a location about a source charge is the direction which a positive test charge would be pushed or pulled when placed at that location. Thus, electric field lines point in the direction which a positive test charge would be pushed or pulled.
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If there is a single source charge present, then the electric field lines are drawn radially about the charge. If the source charge is positive, then a positive test charge is repelled by it and pushed away towards infinity. If the source charge is negative, then a positive test charge is attracted towards it from as far away as infinity (or simply the edge of the paper). If there is a configuration of two source charges, then the electric field would either extend from the positive source charge towards the negative source charge.
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Each of the three diagrams show the electric field line patterns for either a single source charge or a configuration of two source charges. Each line has an arrow to reveal information about the direction of the electric field vector. Each source charge is labeled with a letter.
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