Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) Practice Exam

The electric field lines represent the direction of the electric field produced by a charge. They are defined such that they point away from positive charges and toward negative charges. This convention helps visualize how a test charge, which is positive, would move in the electric field.

When considering a positive charge as a source, the electric field lines radiate outward into the surrounding space. This outward pointing signifies that a positive test charge would experience a force away from the positive charge, reflecting the nature of repulsion between like charges.

In contrast, negative charges attract positive test charges, so the electric field lines point towards the negative sources. Neutral charges, having no net electric field, do not produce any field lines. Vector fields, while related to electric fields, describe the direction and magnitude of forces or motions in various contexts and do not apply to the question about charge types.

Thus, the field lines pointing away from a source refers specifically to positive charges, confirming the selected answer.

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