Question

1-what is the relationship between electric force, field, potential energy, and potential? what patterns are there in the relationships between each?
2-Say you have an electric field created by a distribution of charges. you can place a test charge in this field. which of the following will depend on the sign of the charge : force, field, potential energy or potential, and why?

Answer 1

1) Electric force = the force between two charges is known as electric force.

F = k*q1*q2/r^2

2) Electric field = the field produced by any charge is known as electric field.

E = k*q/r^2

3) Potential energy = the negative of the work done in bringing a charge from a point to other point is known as potential energy of the system.

U = - k*q1*q2 /r

4) electric potential = An electric potential is the amount of work needed to move a unit of charge from a reference point to a specific point inside the field without producing an acceleration.

V = k*q/r

Relationships with each other

1) F = q*E

2) E = dV/dr

3) V = - U/q

4) F = - dU/dr

2) force , potential and potential energy

Force = force depends on charge charge sign. Positive - positive charges gives repulsive force, positive - negative charges gives attractive force, negative - negative charges gives repulsive forces.

Potential = for negative charge, as it moves the potential will be negative.

Potential energy = for a negative charge, the potential energy will decrease.