Question

Is the electric field a force?

Answer 1

Electric Field

1. The force acting on a particle placed in the field is called an electric field.
2. The Newton/Coulomb, or $N/C$, is the unit of measurement of the electric field.
3. The direction of the electric field corresponds to the direction of the force vector for positive charges $\left(q\right)$.
4. Charles Coulomb experimentally proved the basic principle of the electric force between two stationary charged particles in $1785$.
5. For the electric force between two charges, Coulomb proposed the following mathematical representation. Charges $q_1$ and $q_2$ are separated by a distance $r$, and the magnitude of the electric force $F$ between them is given by, $F=k\frac{q_1{q}_2}{r^2}$, where $k=\frac{1}{4\pi {\epsilon }_0}$known as Coulomb constant.
6. An electric field is created when a charge moves through a space, and this field acts as a force on other charges. The force that an electric field experiences with a positive charge is its intensity. It can be called as: $\overrightarrow{E}=\frac{\overrightarrow{F}}{q}$

The electric field is, in fact, a manifestation of electromagnetic force. One of the primary forces in nature is electromagnetic force.

Hence, the electric field is a force.