Today’s agenda: Electric potential energy. You must be able to use electric potential energy in work-energy calculations. Electric potential. You must be able to calculate the electric potential for a point charge, and use the electric potential in work-energy calculations. Electric potential and electric potential energy of a system of charges. You must be able to calculate both electric potential and electric potential energy for a system of charged particles (point charges today, charge distributions next lecture). The electron volt. You must be able to use the electron volt as an alternative unit of energy.

Now I’m going to do something different, and introduce the “electric potential.” Electric potential energy is “just like” gravitational potential energy. Except that all matter exerts an attractive gravitational force, but charged particles exert either attractive or repulsive electrical forces—so we need to be careful with our signs. Electric potential is the electric potential energy per unit of charge.

Electric Potential In lecture 1 we defined the electric field by the force it exerts on a test charge q 0 : Similarly, it is useful to define the potential in terms of the potential energy of a test charge q 0 : The electric potential V is independent of the test charge q 0. Later you’ll get an Official Starting Equation version of this. A point in space can have an electric potential even if there is no charge around to “feel” it.

so that the electric potential of a point charge q is The electric potential difference between points a and b is q 1 is the test charge, q 2 is the charge that gives rise to the potential V(r) that q 1 “feels.” (q 1 probes the potential) Sooner or later I am going to forget and put in a 1/r 2 dependence. Don’t be bad like me. Only valid for a point charge! E is likely due to a collection of point charges. electric potential of a point charge

One more starting equation *Very Handy Version: A particle of charge q moved through a potential difference  V gains (or loses) potential energy q  V. Drop the subscript on the q 0. It was there to remind us that q 0 is the charge that “feels” the potential. Copied from previous slide. *In other words, you usually start with this version of the equation.

Things to remember about electric potential:  Electric potential and electric potential energy are related, but not the same. Electric potential difference is the work per unit of charge that must be done to move a charge from one point to another without changing its kinetic energy.  The terms “electric potential” and “potential” are used interchangeably.  The units of potential are joules/coulomb:

Things to remember about electric potential:  Only differences in electric potential and electric potential energy are meaningful. It is always necessary to define where U and V are zero. In this lecture we define V to be zero at an infinite distance from the sources of the electric field. Sometimes (e.g., circuits) it is convenient to define V to be zero at the earth (ground). It will be clear from the context where V is defined to be zero. Most equations for this chapter assume V=0 at infinite separation of charges. Saying “take V to be zero when the charges are far apart means “it’s OK to use the equations in this chapter.”

Two conceptual examples. Example: a proton is released in a region in space where there is an electric potential. Describe the subsequent motion of the proton. The proton will move towards the region of lower potential. As it moves, its potential energy will decrease, and its kinetic energy and speed will increase. The electron will move towards the region of higher potential. As it moves, its potential energy will decrease, and its kinetic energy and speed will increase. Protons fall down, electrons fall up. Example: a electron is released in a region in space where there is an electric potential. Describe the subsequent motion of the electron.

What is the potential due to the proton in the hydrogen atom at the electron’s position (5.29x m away from the proton)? 27.2V To be worked at the blackboard in lecture. Important note: Vthis is the symbol for electrical potential Vthis is the symbol for the unit (volts) of electrical potential vthis is the symbol for magnitude of velocity, or speed Don’t get your v’s and V’s mixed up! Hint: write your speed v’s as script v’s, like this (or however you want to clearly indicate a lowercase v): v v v

What is the potential due to the proton in the hydrogen atom at the electron’s position (5.29x m away from the proton)? 27.2V + - D +e-eP VP?VP?

In the second part of today’s lecture… I defined electric potential as potential energy per unit of charge …and found the potential due to a point charge… This equation also lets you calculate the change in potential energy when a charge q moves through a potential difference  V. …and showed how to calculate the potential difference between two points in an electric field We haven’t used this yet, but will eventually.