What is Electric Potential Difference?
Electric potential difference is also known as voltage.
The electric potential difference is the work done per unit charge to move a unit charge from one point to another in an electric field.
Electric potential difference is usually referred to as a Voltage difference. Imagine a ball sitting at some height, will there be some energy in the ball? Yes, the energy is called Potential energy, and if the ball is dropped from a point A to B height, the ball will always fall from higher gravitational potential to lower, then there will be a difference in both energies.
The electrical potential difference is analogical to this concept. The energy possessed by Electric charges is known as electrical energy.
A charge with higher potential will have more potential energy, and a charge with lesser potential will have less potential energy.
The current always moves from higher potential to lower potential. The formula for electric potential difference:
Vxy = Vx – Vy = [Wx – Wy]/q
Electric Potential Energy
Electrical potential energy is the cumulative effect of the position and configuration of a charged object and its neighboring charges. The electric potential energy of a charged object governs its motion in the local electric field.
Sometimes electrical potential energy is confused with electric potential, however, the electric potential at a specific point in an electric field is the amount of work required to transport a unit charge from a reference point to that specific point and electrical potential energy is the amount of energy required to move a charge against the electric field.
In this article, let’s understand the electrical potential energy, electric potential, their key concepts, applications, and solved problems.
Table of Content
- What is Electric Potential Energy?
- Electric Potential Energy Formula
- Electric Potential Energy of a Point Charge
- Electric Potential Energy of a System of Charges
- What is Electric Potential?
- What is Electric Potential Difference?
- Electric Potential Derivation
- Electric Potential of a Point Charge
- Solved Examples on Electric Potential Energy
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