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I'm learning about electric fields and it's confusing me

  1. I hear that electric field is a "form of matter" and it performs interaction at a distance. If it exactly a form of matter, I really want to know what made it.

  2. And finally, I want to know the process of the transfer of the interaction of two charges

abcxyzklmn
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  • Where did you hear that 'electric field is a "form of matter"'? – PM 2Ring Jan 23 '23 at 06:38
  • My book said that, this is what it says: "Contrary to the distant acting theory, the near acting theory holds that in the space surrounding each charge there is a special form of matter called an electric field. It is through the electric field that mediates that electrostatic forces are transferred from one charge to another, that is, with a finite velocity. A fundamental property of an electric field is that any charge placed in an electric field is subjected to a force by that electric field" – abcxyzklmn Jan 23 '23 at 08:28
  • You should [edit] that info into your question. And mention the title and author of the book. – PM 2Ring Jan 23 '23 at 10:01

2 Answers2

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There are varying ways to describe electric fields. In layman's terms they can be thought of as the field created by the interaction of electrically charged particles.

To move on to your questions

  1. I believe you may be misled or have a misunderstanding. Particle physics describes 2 fundamental sets of particles. Bosons are the carriers of force while fermions - e.g. quarks that compose protons and neutrons - are the fundamental parts of matter. The boson which carries the interaction of the electromagnetic effect, of electric fields, is the photon.
  2. Electrons exchange virtual versions of these particles. The exchange of these massless, chargeless photons is the fundamental explanation. Despite not possessing mass or charge these photons carry energy. (See this answer for more information about photon's energy.) This energy controls the interaction of these fields.
Broken Admin
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electric field is a "form of matter" and … I really want to know what made it.

Electric fields are not made, they simply exist. Every electron and every proton has an elementary electric charge. And, by the way, also an intrinsic magnetic dipole. We don't notice any of this, because these fields usually balance each other out.

We get a macroscopic electric field through a charge separation. On one side we create an electron excess and on the other side an electron deficiency.

And finally, I want to know the process of the transfer of the interaction of two charges.

Physics deals with virtual photons that are exchanged in an interaction between fields. Virtual means that an effect is described with it, but does not exist as a particle. Here, one must be satisfied with the observation that elementary charges with the same polarity repel each other without a field weakening occurring. And that elementary charges of opposite polarity (electron and proton) attract each other and emit photons in the process. (A new separation can be achieved by the action of photons).

HolgerFiedler
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