top of page

Electric fields vs Magnetic fields

Electric vs Magnetic fields

What is the difference between an Electric Field and a Magnetic Field?

A magnetic field is an exerted area around the magnetic force. It is obtained by moving electric charges. The direction of the magnetic field is indicated by lines, while electric fields are generated around the particles which obtains electric charge.

During this process, positive charges are drawn while negative charges are repelled.

 

An object with a moving charge always has both a magnetic and an electric field. They may have some similarities and also have two different fields with the same characteristics. Both fields are inter-related and called electromagnetic fields but they do not depend on each other.

An electric field creates an electric charge in the surrounding area while magnetic fields create an electric charge around moving magnets.

 

Electric fields are measured as Newton per Coulomb or Volt per meter and magnetic fields are measured in Gauss or Tesla. 

Electric fields are proportional for the electric charge while magnetic fields are proportional to the speed of the electric charge.

Electric fields are perpendicular to the magnetic field while magnetic fields are perpendicular to the electric field.

Electric fields are measured with an electrometer and magnetic fields are measured by a magnetometer.

bottom of page