Force field (physics)

For other uses, see Force field.

Plot of a two-dimensional slice of the gravitational potential in and around a uniform spherical body. The inflection points of the cross-section are at the surface of the body.

In physics a force field is a vector field that describes a non-contact force acting on a particle at various positions in space. Specifically, a force field is a vector field ${\vec {F}}$, where ${\vec {F}}({\vec {x}})$ is the force that a particle would feel if it were at the point ${\vec {x}}$.

Examples of force fields

• In Newtonian gravity, a particle of mass M creates a gravitational field ${\vec {g}}={\frac {-GM}{r^{2}}}{\hat {r}}$, where the radial unit vector ${\hat {r}}$ points away from the particle. The gravitational force experienced by a particle of mass m is given by ${\vec {F}}=m{\vec {g}}$.
• An electric field ${\vec {E}}$ is a vector field. It exerts a force on a point charge q given by ${\vec {F}}=q{\vec {E}}$.
• A gravitational force field is a model used to explain the influence that a massive body extends into the space around itself, producing a force on another massive body.,

Work done by a force field

As a particle moves through a force field along a path C, the work done by the force is a line integral

$W=\int _{C}{\vec {F}}\cdot d{\vec {r}}$

This value is independent of the velocity/momentum that the particle travels along the path. For a conservative force field, it is also independent of the path itself, depending only on the starting and ending points. Therefore, if the starting and ending points are the same, the work is zero for a conservative field:

$\oint _{C}{\vec {F}}\cdot d{\vec {r}}=0$

If the field is conservative, the work done can be more easily evaluated by realizing that a conservative vector field can be written as the gradient of some scalar potential function:

${\vec {F}}=\nabla \phi$

The work done is then simply the difference in the value of this potential in the starting and end points of the path. If these points are given by x = a and x = b, respectively:

$W=\phi (b)-\phi (a)$

See also

• Field line
• Force

External links

• Conservative and non-conservative force-fields, Classical Mechanics, University of Texas at Austin