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Glite Dictionary
electrical line of force

electrical line of force

7.1
An imaginary line showing the direction a positive electric charge moves and how strong the field is
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : línea de fuerza eléctrica
  • The electrical line of force indicates the direction of the electric field.

Examples

  • Diagrams often illustrate the direction of an electric field with curved electrical lines of force.

  • When you place a conductor in the field, the electrical lines of force become distorted around it.

  • The pattern of electrical lines of force between two charges reveals the nature of their interaction.

  • In physics, an electrical line of force helps visualize electric fields.

  • Diagrams often illustrate the direction of an electric field with curved electrical lines of force.

  • The pattern of electrical lines of force between two charges reveals the nature of their interaction.

  • In physics, an electrical line of force helps visualize electric fields.

Synonyms

field line
vselectrical line of force
  • Specialized
1 7.6

An imaginary line that shows the direction of the force around magnets or electric charges

is specific to electric fields and shows movement of a positive test charge
line of force
vselectrical line of force
  • Specialized
1 7.2

An imaginary line that shows the direction of force at points in an electric or magnetic field

is limited to electric fields and shows movement of a positive test charge

Surface Forms

electrical line of force singular
electrical lines of force plural

Morphology

electrical + line + of + force

The phrase is fully compositional: 'electrical' modifies 'line of force', so a learner who knows 'electrical', 'line' and 'force' can infer it refers to a (conceptual) line showing electrical force. This is a standard noun phrase pattern and the idea of a line indicating direction/strength of a force is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner should be able to derive the meaning from the constituents.

Etymology

Electrical line of force comes from the idea of drawing an electrical line to show how the electric force would push a small positive charge along a path. So the phrase means an 'imaginary line' that shows the 'direction and strength' of an electric field.