Electrostatics II

Outline
▪ Potential Energy (28.1)
▪ Electric Potential Energy (28.2)
▪ Electric Potential (28.3)
▪ Calculating the Potential from the Field
(28.4)
▪ Potential due to point charges (28.5)
▪ Electric Potential of continuous charge
distributions (28.6)
 Outline
▪ Calculating the field from potential (28.7)
▪ Equi-potential surfaces (28.8)
▪ Electric current (31.1)
▪ Electromotive force (31.2)
▪ Analysis of circuits (31.3)
▪ RC circuits (31.7)

- Physics by Halliday, Resnik and Krane,

Vol. 2
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ When a particle moves between points a
and b under the influence of a force F the
difference in potential energy U is equal
to the negative of the work done Wab by the
force, i.e.
U = −Wab

▪ But, remember that this equation is

applicable only when the force is
conservative
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ Now a question is
▪ What is a conservative force?
▪ The work done under the influence of such
a force is independent of the path taken by
the particle, it depends only on the initial
and final position
▪ In other words, work done on a closed path
under the influence of such a force is zero
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ Examples of such forces are: gravitational
force and electrostatic force
▪ The equation for difference in the potential
energy under the influence of such a
conservative force can also be written as
b  
U = U a − U b = −  F  dl
a
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ From this equation for the difference in
potential energy, if we want to get the
equation for potential energy, we should
take some reference point at which
potential energy can be arbitrarily taken to
be zero
▪ In general, such a reference point is taken
to be at infinite and at that point the
potential energy is assumed to be zero
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ So the potential energy due to some system
of particles at an arbitrary point P is given
by P  
U P = −  F  dl

 Electric Potential Energy
▪ We can associate potential energy with any
system in which a charged particle is
placed in an electric field and is acted on
by an electrostatic force
▪ The change in electrostatic potential
energy, when a particle of charge q moves
in an electric field E, is given by
b   b  
U a − U b = −  F  dl = −q  E  dl
a a
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ Here the integration is carried out over the
path on which the charge q moves going
from a to b
▪ We can evaluate this integral by taking an
example of system of two point charges q1
and q2 separated by a distance r as shown
in the figure
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ The equation for force is given by
q1q2
F=
4 o r 2

▪ Use it in the equation

b  
U a − U b = −  F  dl
a

and simplify
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ Finally, we will get
q1q2  1 1 
U a −Ub =  − 
4 o  rb ra 
▪ If we consider the point b at infinity and
the distance between the two charges is r,
then the potential energy this system of the
two charges will be
q1q2
U=
4 o r
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ The signs of the charge will decide whether
the potential energy is positive or negative
▪ How will you interpret it?

q1q2
U=
4 o r
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ In general, in a system of charges you have
more than two charges
▪ Let there be n number of charges, q1, q2, …
qn in a system
▪ In that case, the total potential energy of
the system is given by

q1q2 q2 q3 qn −1qn
U= + + ... +
4 o r12 4 o r23 4 o rn ( n −1)
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ This equation can also be written as
n qi q j
U =
j =1 4 o rij
i j

q1q2 q2 q3 qn −1qn
U= + + ... +
4 o r12 4 o r23 4 o rn ( n −1)
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ The electric potential energy can also be
interpreted as
▪ The work that must be done by an external
agent to assemble the system, bringing
each charge in from an infinite distance.
The charges are at rest in their initial
positions and in their final positions
 Electric Potential Energy
▪ This statement also indicates that the
electric potential energy at infinite is zero
and infinite is considered to be the
reference
▪ For continuous charge distributions, the
potential energy can be obtained using a
similar technique, dividing the distribution
into small elements and treating each
element as a point charge
 Electric Potential
▪ In the first unit, we have discussed the
electric field produced by an electric charge
▪ At every point in the field of the given
charge, a quantity called electric field
intensity can be defined
 Electric Potential
▪ At the same point in the field of the same
charge, another physical quantity called
electric potential can also be defined
 Electric Potential
▪ One way to define electric potential (V) is
▪ It is the electric potential energy per unit
positive charge (called test charge qo) at
that point in the given field of the given
charge
▪ Hence,
UP
VP =
qo
 Electric Potential
▪ Now let us consider two points A and B in
the field of the charge Q at distances r1 and
r2 respectively as shown in the figure
▪ Then potential difference between these
two points is given by
U A −U B U
VA − VB =  V =
qo qo
 Electric Potential
▪ Therefore, U = qo V
▪ What does this equation indicate?
▪ This equation shows that whenever an
electric charge qo is allowed to move
through a potential difference V, the
electric potential energy changes by U
 Electric Potential
▪ Why we are talking about electric potential
difference rather than absolute electric
potential?
▪ One justification to this question is that we
hardly require to use absolute potential,
more often than not we have to deal with
potential difference
▪ Most of the times, we are interested in
changes rather than absolute values
 Electric Potential
▪ Notes:
▪ (1) A unit of energy, eV, widely used in
Atomic and Nuclear Physics, is defined
based on this equation
▪ (2) In most of the problems, the Earth is
taken as the reference and is assigned zero
potential. The location of the reference
point and the value of the potential there
are chosen for convenience
 Electric Potential
▪ Notes:
▪ (3) Since electric field is a conservative
field, the potential energy difference
between two points in the field depends
only on the locations of the points and not
on the path taken to move from one point
to the other
▪ Hence, potential difference between two
points in an electric field is path
independent
 Electric Potential
▪ The importance of reference can be very
easily understood by taking an example of
gravitational potential energy, mgh, of a
body of mass m at a height h
▪ From where will you measure the height?
 Electric Potential
▪ If you change your reference surface, what
will happen to the value of potential
energy?
▪ And what about the change in the value of
potential energy?
 Electric Potential
▪ I hope you have got the point
▪ Similar discussion we can have for electric
potential and electric potential energy also
 Electric Potential
▪ The value of absolute electric potential at a
point in the electric field of intensity E can
be derived using following equation
P  
VP = −  E  ds

 Electric Potential
▪ Using this equation, we can derive an
equation for electric potential at point P
due to a point charge
P  
VP = −  E  ds

 Electric Potential
▪ And the potential difference between two
points in the field is given by
B  
VB − VA = −  E  ds
A
 Electric Potential
▪ For a point charge, electric potential (V) at
a point at a distance r from the charge Q is
Q
given by V =
4  r
P
o

▪ Compare this equation with that of electric

field intensity
▪ Give your conclusions
 Electric Potential
▪ This equation for electric potential (V) at
point P at a distance r from the charge Q
Q
VP =
4 o r

indicates that the potential due to positive

charge is positive, that due to negative
charge is negative
 Electric Potential
▪ The potential difference due to a point
charge between two points A and B, as
shown in the figure,
is given by
B   Q  1 1
VB − VA = −  E  ds =  − 
A
4 o  r2 r1 
 Electric Potential
▪ Remember that this equation holds for the
potential difference between two points
even if they do not lie on the same radial
line from the point charge
B   Q  1 1
VB − VA = −  E  ds =  − 
A
4 o  r2 r1 
 Electric Potential
▪ Electric potential at point P due to system
of n number of charges is given by
1 qi
V = V1 + V2 + V3 + ... =
4 o
i r
i
 Electric Potential
▪ Note that the sum here is an algebraic sum
and not a vector sum
1 qi
V = V1 + V2 + V3 + ... =
4 o
i r
i
 Electric Potential
▪ This is an important computational
advantage of using potential rather than
electric field
▪ Another important point to be noted here is
that the potential at a point due to one of
the charges is not affected by the presence
of the other charges
 Electric Potential
▪ To find the total potential, we add the
potentials due to each of the charges as if it
were the only one which is present
▪ This is the principle of superposition,
which applies to potential as well as to
electric field