If the left and right components of an electric field are exactly opposite, what happens to the net field?

If the left and right components of an electric field are exactly opposite, what happens to the net field?

• A. It doubles
• B. It becomes undefined
• C. It increases
• D. It will cancel to zero

Answer: (D)

Electric fields add like vectors, so the total field at a point is the sum of all contributions with direction taken into account. If two components lie along the same line but point in opposite directions and have the same strength, they cancel each other out. The left-pointing field and the right-pointing field with equal magnitude add to zero, leaving a net field of zero at that location. This means a test charge there would experience no force from these two sources. It wouldn’t double, increase, or become undefined—the result is simply zero.

Electric fields add like vectors, so the total field at a point is the sum of all contributions with direction taken into account. If two components lie along the same line but point in opposite directions and have the same strength, they cancel each other out. The left-pointing field and the right-pointing field with equal magnitude add to zero, leaving a net field of zero at that location. This means a test charge there would experience no force from these two sources. It wouldn’t double, increase, or become undefined—the result is simply zero.