This java applet displays the electric field for various configurations of charge. The potential surface of the field may be represented in 2D (equipotential contours) or 3D (wells and peaks). You may choose from many charge setups including two equal charges, dipoles, charged lines and planes.

You may click the field and drag with the mouse to rotate the view. Also some of the field selections have parameters which may be adjusted. You may select one of many fields from the menu in the upper right.

You should be able to view this applet with any Java-capable browser. For optimum performance, I recommend using Internet Explorer 6.

Full Instructions.

This beautiful applet was developed by Paul Falstad. His site is an unmissable resource for physics teachers: http://www.falstad.com/mathphysics.html