Chapter 21, Problem 54A

To determine

To discuss: The terminating point of the electric field lines leaving the given positive charge.

Explanation of Solution

Given:

The given figure is shown below.

Figure 1

Electric field lines:

The electric field lines are actually the line of force. They are imaginary in nature. To determine the direction of net field at any point, a tangent is drawn at that point.

The lines of electric field originate from the positive charge and terminates at the negative charge.

The electric field lines between a positive and negative charge is shown below,

Figure 2

In figure 1, there is only positive charge so, the electric field originates in radial direction.

The lines of electric field originate from the positive charge and end up at the negative charge, but there is no negative charge present in the given figure.

So, it is assumed that the negative charge is present at infinity.

Hence, the electric field lines terminate at infinity which is beyond the edges of the diagram.