Chapter 25

Electric Potential
Goals for Chapter 25
• Calculate electrical potential energy
• Define of electric potential
• Find the electric field from electrical potential
 25.1 Potential Difference and Electric Potential
When a test charge q0 is placed in an electric field E created by some source charge
distribution, the electric force acting on the test charge is q0E. The force F is
conservative because the force between charges described by Coulomb’s law is
conservative. When the test charge is moved in the field by some external agent,
the work done by the field on the charge is equal to the negative of the work done
by the external agent causing the displacement. This is analogous to the situation of
lifting an object with mass in a gravitational field the work done by the external agent is
mgh and the work done by the gravitational force is -mgh.

When analyzing electric and magnetic fields, it is common practice to use the
notation ds to represent an infinitesimal displacement vector that is oriented
tangent to a path through space. This path may be straight or curved, and an
integral performed along this path is called either a path integral or a line integral
(the two terms are synonymous).
For an infinitesimal displacement ds of a charge, the work done by the electric field on the
charge is dW = F • ds = q0E • ds. As this amount of work is done by the field, the potential
energy of the charge field system is changed by an amount dU = - q0E • ds. For a finite
displacement of the charge from point A to point B, the change in potential energy of the
system U = UB - UA is

The integration is performed along the path that q0 follows as it moves from A to B. Because
the force q0E is conservative, this line integral does not depend on the path taken from A to
B.
For a given position of the test charge in the field, the charge-field system has a potential energy U
relative to the configuration of the system that is defined as U = 0. Dividing the potential energy by
the test charge gives a physical quantity that depends only on the source charge distribution. The
potential energy per unit charge U/q0 is independent of the value of q0 and has a value at every
point in an electric field. This quantity U/q0 is called the electric potential (or simply the potential)
V. Thus, the electric potential at any point in an electric field is
Potential Difference
The potential difference V = VB - VA between two points A and B in an
electric field is defined as the change in potential energy of the system
when a test charge is moved between the points divided by the test
charge q0:

Potential difference should not be confused with difference in potential energy.

The potential difference between A and B depends only on the source
charge distribution (consider points A and B without the presence of the test
charge), while the difference in potential energy exists only if a test charge is
moved between the points.
Electric potential is a scalar characteristic of an electric field, independent

of any charges that may be placed in the field.

If an external agent moves a test charge from A to B without changing the kinetic energy
of the test charge, the agent performs work which changes the potential energy of the
system: W= U. The test charge q0 is used as a mental device to define the electric
potential. Imagine an arbitrary charge q located in an electric field. The work done by
an external agent in moving a charge q through an electric

Because electric potential is a measure of potential energy per unit charge, the SI unit of
both electric potential and potential difference is joules per coulomb, which is defined as a
volt (V):

That is, 1 J of work must be done to move a 1-C charge through a potential difference of 1 V.
The potential difference also has units of electric field times distance. From this, it follows
that the SI unit of electric field (N/C) can also be expressed in volts per meter:
The electron volt (eV), which is defined as the energy a charge-field
system gains or loses when a charge of magnitude e (that is, an
electron or a proton) is moved through a potential difference of 1V.
Because 1 V = 1J/C and because the fundamental charge is 1.60 10-
19 C, the electron volt is related to the joule as follows:
 Work, energy, and the path from start to finish
• The work done raising a basketball against gravity depends only on the potential energy,
how high the ball goes. It does not depend on other motions. A point charge moving in a
field exhibits similar behavior.
An electric charge moving in an electric field
The work done moving a test charge
• As a test charge
moves away from a
charge of like sign,
the path does not
matter (with
respect to work or
energy), only the
distance between
the charges.
 25.2 Potential Differences in a Uniform Electric Field
First, consider a uniform electric field directed along the negative y axis. Let us calculate the
potential difference between two points A and B separated by a distance |s| = d, where s is parallel
to the field lines. So, The potential difference

Because E is constant, we can remove it from the integral sign; this gives,

The negative sign indicates that the electric potential at

point B is lower than at point A; that is, VB < VA. Electric
field lines always point in the direction of
decreasing electric potential. Now suppose that a test
charge q0 moves from A to B. We can calculate the
change in the potential energy of the charge–field
system :
 We see that if q0 is positive, then U is negative. We conclude that a system consisting of a
positive charge and an electric field loses electric potential energy when the charge moves
in the direction of the field. This means that an electric field does work on a positive charge when
the charge moves in the direction of the electric field. If a positive test charge is released from rest
in this electric field, it experiences an electric force q0E in the direction of E. Therefore, it
accelerates downward, gaining kinetic energy. As the charged particle gains kinetic energy, the
charge-field system loses an equal amount of potential energy.
If q0 is negative, then  U is positive and the situation is reversed: A system consisting of a
negative charge and an electric field gains electric potential energy when the charge moves
in the direction of the field. If a negative charge is released from rest in an electric field, it
accelerates in a direction opposite the direction of the field.
In order for the negative charge to move in the direction of the field, an external agent must apply
a force and do positive work on the charge.
Now consider the more general case of a charged particle that moves between A and B in a
uniform electric field such that the vector s is not parallel to the field lines. In this case,
Equipotential surfaces and field lines
• Surfaces of equal potential may be drawn any charge or charges
and the field lines they create.
25.3 Electric Potential and Potential Energy Due to Point Charges
An isolated positive point charge q produces an electric field that is
directed radially outward from the charge. To find the electric
potential at a point located a distance r from the charge, we begin
with the general expression for potential difference:

where A and B are the two arbitrary points shown in Figure 25.7. At any point in
space, the electric field due to the point charge is E = keqr/r2 . Where rˆ is a unit
vector directed from the charge toward the point. The quantity E ds can be
expressed as

Because the magnitude of rˆ is 1, the dot product [Link] = ds cos ,

where  is the angle between rˆ and ds. Furthermore, ds cos  is the
projection of ds onto r; thus, ds cos = dr. That is, any displacement
ds along the path from point A to point B produces a change dr in
the magnitude of r, the position vector of the point relative to the
charge creating the field. Making these substitutions, we find that E
ds = (keq/r2)dr;
Hence, the expression for the potential difference becomes

V = 0 at rA =

With this reference choice, the electric potential created by a point charge at any
distance r from the charge is

For a group of point charges, we can write the total electric potential at P in the
form
We now consider the potential energy of a system of two
charged particles. If V2 is the electric potential at a point P
due to charge q2, then the work an external agent must do to
bring a second charge q1 from infinity to P without
acceleration is q1 V2 . This work represents a transfer of
energy into the system and the energy appears in the
system as potential energy U when the particles are
separated by a distance r12 . Therefore, we can express the
potential energy of the system as :

The total potential energy of the system of three charges;

 The electrical potential
• The potential of a
battery can be
measured between
point a and point
b (the positive and
negative
terminals).
• Moving with the
electrical field
decreases the
electrical
potential. Moving
against the field
lowers it.
Potential energy curves—PE versus r
• Graphically, the
potential energy between
like charges increases
sharply to positive
(repulsive) values as the
charges become close.

• Unlike charges have

potential energy
becoming sharply
negative as they become
close (attractive).
Electrical potential and multiple point charges
• The potential between multiple charges is done by vector addition
of the individual energies as shown in Figure
• Figure shows this principle is applied to an ion engine for
spaceflight.
25.5 Electric Potential Due to Continuous Charge Distributions

We can calculate the electric potential due to a continuous

charge distribution in two ways.
If the charge distribution is known, we can start with the
electric potential of a point charge. We then consider the
potential due to a small charge element dq, treating this
element as a point charge .The electric potential dV at some
point P due to the charge element dq is

Note that this expression for V uses a particular reference:

the electric potential is taken to be zero when point P is
infinitely far from the charge distribution.
 If the electric field is already known from other considerations, such as
Gauss’s law, we can calculate the electric potential due to a continuous charge
distribution using Equation 25.3. If the charge distribution has sufficient
symmetry, we first evaluate E at any point using Gauss’s law and then
substitute the value obtained into Equation 25.3 to determine the potential
difference $V between any two points. We then choose the electric potential V
to be zero at some convenient point.
25.6 Electric Potential Due to a Charged Conductor
 We showed that the electric field just outside the conductor is
perpendicular to the surface and that the field inside is zero.
 Now, we show that every point on the surface of a charged conductor in
equilibrium is at the same electric potential. Consider two points A and B on
the surface of a charged conductor. Along a surface path connecting these
points, E is always perpendicular to the displacement ds; therefore
[Link] = 0. Using this result, we conclude that the potential difference
between A and B is necessarily zero:

This result applies to any two points on the surface. Therefore, V is constant
everywhere on the surface of a charged conductor in equilibrium. That is,

the surface of any charged conductor in electrostatic equilibrium is

an equipotential surface. Furthermore, because the electric field is
zero inside the conductor, we conclude that the electric potential is
constant everywhere inside the conductor and equal to its value at
the surface.
 A Cavity Within a Conductor
Now suppose a conductor of arbitrary shape contains a cavity as shown in
Figure 25.26. Let us assume that no charges are inside the cavity. In
this case, the electric field inside the cavity must be zero regardless of
the charge distribution on the outside surface of the conductor.
Furthermore, the field in the cavity is zero even if an electric field exists
outside the conductor.
To prove this point, we use the fact that every point on the conductor is at
the same electric potential, and therefore any two points A and B on the
surface of the cavity must be at the same potential. Now imagine that a
field E exists in the cavity and evaluate the potential difference VB - VA
defined

Because VB - VA = 0, the integral of E ds must be zero for all paths between any two points A and B on the
conductor. The only way that this can be true for all paths is if E is zero everywhere in the cavity. Thus, we
conclude that a cavity surrounded by conducting walls is a field-free region as long as no charges are
inside the cavity.
 A particle accelerator imparts amazingly large energies
• A particle accelerator
can bring a charged
particle to motion at
velocities great enough
to impart millions, even
billions, of eV as
kinetic energy.

• Figure at right shows a

particle accelerator at
the Fermi Lab in
Illinois.
Calculation of electrical potential