Invisible Hills and Valleys

Around every charged object, like the peaks and valleys of a map, an electric potential field emerges; this field can vary between a few volts per meter and thousands of volts. We cannot see this potential difference directly, but the bristling of our hair, scraps of paper clinging to plastic, or the spark that jumps when we touch a door in winter whispers to us of its existence. Visualized, there is a luminous geography around charged bodies; attraction and repulsion move like objects across this invisible terrain.