According to the principle of superposition, the field generated by a collection of charges is the sum of the electric fields generated by each of the individual charges.
, , .
If the charge distribution is continuous, then the total electric field can be calculated by integrating the electric fields generated by each small element of charge in the distribution.
, , , for a linear distribution, where stands for the linear charge density.
This Demonstration illustrates the electric field generated by a line of charge.
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