Chapter 23

Electric Potential

PowerPoint® Lectures for

University Physics, 14th Edition
– Hugh D. Young and Roger A. Freedman Lectures by Jason Harlow
© 2016 Pearson Education Inc.
 Learning Goals for Chapter 23
Looking forward at …
• how to calculate the electric potential energy of a collection
of charges.
• the meaning and significance of electric potential.
• how to calculate the electric potential that a collection of
charges produces at a point in space.
• how to use equipotential surfaces to visualize how the electric
potential varies in space.
• how to use electric potential to calculate the electric field.

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 Introduction
• In one type of welding,
electric charge flows between
the welding tool and the metal
pieces that are to be joined.
• This produces a glowing arc
whose high temperature fuses
the pieces together.
• The tool must be held close to the metal pieces in order to
maximize the electric field.
• Electric potential energy is an integral part of our
technological society.

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 Electric potential energy in a uniform field
• In the figure, a pair of charged parallel metal plates sets up a
uniform, downward electric field.
• The field exerts a downward force on a positive test charge.

• As the charge moves

downward from point a to
point b, the work done by the
field is independent of the
path the particle takes.
• Recall that for work done by
conservative forces, .

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 A positive charge moving in a uniform field
• If the positive charge moves in the direction of the field, the
field does positive work on the charge.

• The potential energy decreases.

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 A positive charge moving in a uniform field
• If the positive charge moves opposite the direction of the
field, the field does negative work on the charge.

• The potential energy increases.

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 A negative charge moving in a uniform field
• If the negative charge moves in the direction of the field, the
field does negative work on the charge.

• The potential energy increases.

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 A negative charge moving in a uniform field
• If the negative charge moves opposite the direction of the
field, the field does positive work on the charge.

• The potential energy decreases.

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 • A 2.0 cm x 2.0 cm parallel-plate capacitor with a 2.0 mm
spacing is charged to 1.0 nC. First a proton and then an
electron are released from rest at the midpoint of the
capacitor. Recall and
a) What is each particle’s initial potential energy?
b) What is each particle’s kinetic energy as it reaches the plate?

Answers: 4.5 x 10-17 J

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 • Question 1 Page 29-1
Do not copy from previous slides or notes.
Work it out yourselves in groups.

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 Electric potential energy of two point charges
• The work done by the electric field of one point charge on
another does not depend on the path taken.
• Therefore, the electric potential energy only depends on the
distance between the charges.

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 Electric potential energy of two point charges
• The electric potential energy of two point charges only
depends on the distance between the charges.

• This equation is valid no matter what the signs of the

charges are.
• Potential energy is defined to be zero when the charges are
infinitely far apart.

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 Graphs of the potential energy
• If two charges have the same sign, the interaction is
repulsive, and the electric potential energy is positive.

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 Graphs of the potential energy
• If two charges have opposite signs, the interaction is
attractive, and the electric potential energy is negative.

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 • A +3.0-nC charge q0 is initially at rest a distance of 10 cm (r1)
from a +5.0-nC charge q fixed at the origin. Naturally, the
Coulomb force accelerates q0 away from q, eventually
reaching 15 cm (r2).

a) What is the work done by the E field between r1 and r2?

b) How much kinetic energy does q0 have at r2?

Answers: 4.5 x 10-7 J
a. How does the potential energy change if q0 is tripled?

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 • Questions 5 – 7 Page 29-3

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 Electrical potential energy with several point
charges

• The potential energy

associated with q0 depends
on the other charges and their
distances from q0.
• The electric potential energy
is the algebraic sum:

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 • Three electrons are spaced 1.0 mm apart along a vertical line.
The outer two electrons are fixed in position.
a. Is the center electron at a point of stable or unstable
equilibrium? Do we expect U to increase or decrease?
b. If the center electron is displaced horizontally by a small
distance, what will its kinetic energy be when it is very far
away?
4.6 x 10-25 J
c. How does the potential energy change if q0 is tripled?

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 Electrical potential energy with several point
charges

• The total potential energy

associated with all pairs of
charges is:

• First,
• Next,
• Next,
• Next…
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 Electric potential
𝑈
• Potential is potential energy per unit charge. 𝑉 =
𝑞0
• The potential of a with respect to b (Vab = Va – Vb) equals the
work done by the electric force when a unit charge moves
from a to b.

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 and
• A proton with a speed of 2.0 x 105 m/s enters a region of
space in which there is an electric potential.
a) The potential of a with respect to b is . What is the proton’s
speed after it moves from to ?
1.4 x 105 m/s
b) What will be the final speed if the proton is replaced by an
electron?
5.9 x 106 m/s

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 −𝑊 ∆ 𝑈
𝑉 𝑎𝑏= =
𝑞0 𝑞0
What are the electric
potentials if the fired
particles have three
times the charge?

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 Electric potential
• The potential due to a single point charge is:

• Like electric field, potential is independent of the test charge

that we use to define it.
• For a collection of point charges:

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 Finding electric potential from the electric
field
• If you move in the direction of the electric field, the electric
potential decreases, but if you move opposite the field, the
potential increases.

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 • Questions 17 – 19 page 29-9

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 • What is the electric potential at the point indicated? 135 V

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 • Pages 309 and 310 TIPERs

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 Just as chapter 21 presented several examples of using integral
calculus to obtain expressions for electric field due to charge that is
distributed over space, we can also turn the discrete summation
into the integral

We can then obtain expressions for electric potentials due to charges

that are distributed over space. See
Electric potential for different charge geometries (gsu.edu)

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 Electric potential and electric field
• Moving with the direction of the electric field means moving
in the direction of decreasing V, and vice versa.
• To move a unit charge slowly against the electric force, we
must apply an external force per unit charge equal and
opposite to the electric force per unit charge.
• The electric force per unit charge is the electric field.
• The potential difference Va – Vb equals the work done per unit
charge by this external force to move a unit charge from b to
a:

• The unit of electric field can be expressed as 1 N/C = 1 V/m.

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 Recall from applications of Gauss’s law that the magnitude of
the electric field a distance from an ‘infinite’ wire with charge
per unit length is

What is the potential between and ?

Any of the electric field equations from chapters 21 and 22 can

be used to find the corresponding voltage between two points.

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 The electron volt
• When a particle with charge q moves from a point where the
potential is Vb to a point where it is Va, the change in the
potential energy U is
Ua − Ub = q(Va − Vb)
• If charge q equals the magnitude e of the electron charge, and
the potential difference is 1 V, the change in energy is defined
as one electron volt (eV):
1 eV = 1.602 × 10−19 J

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 Electron volts and cancer radiotherapy
• One way to destroy a
cancerous tumor is to aim
high-energy electrons
directly at it.
• Each electron has a kinetic
energy of 4 to 20 MeV
(1 MeV = 106 eV), and
transfers its energy to the tumor through collisions with the
tumor’s atoms.
• Electrons in this energy range can penetrate only a few
centimeters into a patient, which makes them useful for
treating superficial tumors, such as those on the skin or lips.

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 Electric potential and field of a charged
conductor
• A solid conducting sphere of radius R has a total charge q.
• The electric field inside the sphere is zero everywhere.

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 Electric potential and field of a charged
conductor
• The potential is the same at every point inside the sphere and
is equal to its value at the surface.

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 Ionization and corona discharge
• At an electric-field magnitude of about 3 × 106 V/m or
greater, air molecules become ionized, and air becomes a
conductor.
• For a charged conducting sphere, Vsurface = Esurface R.

• Thus, if Em is the electric-field magnitude at which air

becomes conductive (known as
the dielectric strength of air),
then the maximum potential
Vm to which a spherical
conductor can be raised is
Vm = REm.

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 Oppositely charged parallel plates
• The potential at any height y between the two large
oppositely charged parallel plates is V = Ey.

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 • Page 27-8 question 26 (if missed/delayed earlier)
• Page 29-6 questions 11 and 12

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 Potential gradient
• The components of the electric field can be found by taking
partial derivatives of the electric potential:

• The electric field is the negative gradient of the potential:

• This states that points in the direction in which decreases

most rapidly and is always perpendicular to the equipotential
surface through the point.

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 Page 30-4
a) Suppose throughout some region of space.
Is in this region? Explain.
b) Suppose throughout some region of space.
Is in this region? Explain.

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 The electric potential due to any point on the central -axis of a
uniformly charged disk of radius can be obtained by using
equation (23.16), (see
Electric potential for different charge geometries (gsu.edu)).
The result of the integration is
Starting with this expression, derive an expression for the
electric field at any point on the x-axis of the disk. The result is
the same expression (equation 21.11) derived in textbook
Example 21.11.

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 Equipotential surfaces
• Contour lines on a topographic map are curves of
constant elevation and hence of constant gravitational
potential energy.

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 Equipotential surfaces and field lines
• An equipotential surface is a surface on which the electric
potential is the same at every point.
• Field lines and equipotential surfaces are always mutually
perpendicular.
• Shown are cross sections of
equipotential surfaces (blue lines)
and electric field lines (red lines)
for a single positive charge.

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 Equipotential surfaces and field lines for
a dipole

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 Field and potential of two equal positive
charges

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 Equipotentials and conductors
• When all charges are at rest:
- the surface of a conductor is
always an equipotential
surface.
- the electric field just outside a
conductor is always
perpendicular to the surface.

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 Equipotentials and conductors
• If the electric field had a tangential component at the surface
of a conductor, a net amount of work would be done on a test
charge by moving it around a loop as shown here—which is
impossible because the electric force is conservative.

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 Field at the surface of a conductor
• Gauss’s law can be used to
show that the direction of the
electric field at the surface of
any conductor is always
perpendicular to the surface.
• The magnitude of the electric
field just outside a charged
conductor is proportional to
the surface charge density σ.

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