Action-at-a-distance forces are sometimes referred to as field forces. The concept of a field force is utilized by scientists to explain this rather unusual force phenomenon that occurs in the absence of physical contact. While all masses attract when held some distance apart, charges can either repel or attract when held some distance apart. An alternative to describing this action-at-a-distance affect is to simply suggest that there is something rather strange about the space surrounding a charged object. Any other charged object that is in that space feels the affect of the charge. A charged object creates an electric field - an alteration of the space in the region that surrounds it. Other charges in that field would feel the unusual alteration of the space. Whether a charged object enters that space or not, the electric field exists. Space is altered by the presence of a charged object. Other objects in that space experience the strange and mysterious qualities of the space.
Anyone who has ever walked into a room of an infant with a soiled diaper (as in a poopy diaper) has experienced a stinky field. an electric charge creates an electric field - it has altered the nature of the space surrounding the charge. And if another charge gets near enough, that charge will sense that there is an affect when present in that surrounding space. And electric field is sensed by the detector charge in the same way that a nose senses the stinky field. The strength of the stinky field is dependent upon the distance from the stinky diaper and the amount ofstinky in the diaper. And in an analogous manner, the strength of the electric field is dependent upon the amount of charge that creates the field and the distance from the charge.
All charged objects create an electric field