Electric fields

• All charged objects have their own electric field all the way around them, just like masses have gravitational fields and magnets have magnetic fields.
• The electric field strength is strongest close to the particle and gets weaker the further away you get, so as charged particles get closer together, the electric fields will start to interact more and more.
• If the charged particles are oppositely charged, there will be an attractive force between them, which is called an electrostatic force or electrostatic attraction.
• The strength of the electric field can be shown with field lines, which are lines with arrows that always go from positive to negative, indicating the direction of the electric field.
• If the charged particles are of the same charge, they will repel each other because like charges repel.
• Air is an electrical insulator and can't conduct any electricity, but in some cases, a strong electric field like the one around a piece of metal can cause the surrounding air particles to lose electrons and become positive ions, a process known as ionization.
• Once an object has been ionized, it's able to conduct electricity, which is how sparks are able to travel between objects traveling straight through the air.