The relationship between electrical potential and field

Physics > Relationship between electrical potential and field

Consider electric field potential… Find out what the electric potential and electric field are, the formula and communication equations, the Coulomb coefficient.

The electric potential acts as a property of the field and characterizes its actions.

Learning challenge

• Find out what connects the electric potential and the field.

Key points

• The electric field is a measure of force per unit of charge, and electric potential is a measure of energy per unit of charge.
• In the case of a uniform field, the formula for the bond is: E = -Δφ / d.
• Potential is a property of a field that describes its effect on an object.

Terms

• Electric potential – potential energy per unit of charge at a point of a static electric field.
• An electric field is an area around a charged particle or between two voltages.

The connection between the electric potential and the field resembles the situation with the gravitational potential, which acts as a property of the field and characterizes its effect on the body.

The presence of an electric field around a static point charge results in a potential difference. Because of this, the force affects the charge and it moves

An electric field resembles any vector field, since it displays a force based on a stimulus and has a unit of force. In an electric field, the stimulus is the charge, and the unit is the HC^-one… That is, the electric field should be perceived as a measure of force per unit of charge.

The electric potential at a point is a factor of the potential energy of any particle with a charge. Unit – JC^-one… That is, we are talking about measure again, but this time energy per unit charge.

The electric potential and charge have a close relationship and the general coefficient of inverse coulombs (C^-one), and strength and energy differ only in distance.

Therefore, for a homogeneous field, the relationship is:

E = -Δφ / d.

The coefficient -1 appears due to the fact that positive charges are repelled. The above formula is algebraic and in a purer sense does not imply the homogeneity of the field, and the electric one is the gradient of the electric potential in the x direction:

This can be deduced from the basic principles. Taking into account that ΔP = W and applying the law of conservation of energy, we replace ΔP and W with other terms. ΔP can be changed as the product of the charge (q) and the differential of the potential (dV), and W is the product of the q of the electric field (E) and the differential of the distance in the direction x (dx):

qdV = -qE_xdx.

Dividing both sides of the equation by q creates the previous equation.

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