Students’ understanding of the inverse square law in electrostatics

Abstract

One problem of learning Electrostatics is that students often learn from their commonsense beliefs about electric force and electric field. This study investigated students’ conceptual understanding of finding electric force, electric field, and electric potential of point charge after learning an introductory physics course. We administered the Electrostatics Conceptual Evaluation Test to four lecture-based classes in high school. The first question was a comparison of the electric force from two-point charges at two different positions and the second question was a comparison of the electric field from a point charge at two different positions. The use of the inverse square law is required to find the electric force and the electric field at various positions. It was found that many students answered incorrectly. They described that the electric force and the electric field decrease whereas the distance increases by neglecting the inverse square law. This finding can be particularly used to suggest high school teachers to develop their effective strategy to support student learning.