Electric potential energy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Electrical potential energy)

Electric potential energy, or electrostatic potential energy, is a potential energy (measured in joules) that results from
conservative Coulomb forces and is associated with the configuration of a particular set of point charges within a defined system. Electric potential energy
An object may have electric potential energy by virtue of two key elements: its own electric charge and its relative position to other Common symbol(s): UE
electrically charged objects.
SI unit: joule (J)
The term "electric potential energy" is used to describe the potential energy in systems with time-variant electric fields, while the Derivations from other quantities: UE = C · V2 / 2
term "electrostatic potential energy" is used to describe the potential energy in systems with time-invariant electric fields.

Contents
1 Definition
2 Units
3 Examples
3.1 One point charge q in the presence of n point charges Q n
3.2 Electrostatic potential energy stored in a system of point charges
3.2.1 One point charge
3.2.2 Two point charges
3.2.3 Three point charges
4 Energy stored in an electrostatic field distribution
5 Energy in electronic elements
6 Notes
7 References

Definition
The electrostatic potential energy, UE, of one point charge q in the presence of an electric field E is defined as the negative of the work W done by the electrostatic force to bring it from
the reference position rref[note 1] to some position r.[1][2]:§25-1[note 2]

where F is the electrostatic force, ds is the displacement vector and is the electric potential generated by the charges, which is a function of position r.

Units
The SI unit of electric potential energy is the joule (named after the English physicist James Prescott Joule). In the CGS system the erg is the unit of energy, being equal to 10−7 J. Also
electronvolts may be used, 1 eV = 1.602×10−19 J.

Examples
One point charge q in the presence of n point charges Qn

Let's start first with one point charge q in the presence of only one point charge Q. The electrostatic potential
energy, U E, of one point charge q in the presence of a point charge Q, taking an infinite separation between the
charges as the reference position, is:

A point charge q in the electric field of another charge Q.

,

where is Coulomb's constant, r is the distance between the point charges q & Q, and q & Q are the signed values of the charges (not the modules of the charges. For
example, an electron would have a negative value of charge when placed in the formula). The following outline of proof states the derivation from the definition of electric potential energy
and Coulomb's law to the given formula.

Outline of proof

The small amount of work dW done by a given force over a small distance ds is given by

The sum of these small amounts of work over the trajectory yields the work,

By definition, the electrostatic potential energy, UE, of one point charge q in the presence of an electric field E is the negative of the work done
by the electrostatic force to bring it from the reference position rref to some position r.

.
 where:

r = position in 3d space, using cartesian coordinates r = (x, y, z), taking the position of the Q charge at r = (0,0,0), r = |r| is the norm of
the position vector,
dr = differential position vector,
ds = differential displacement vector,
is the work done by the electrostatic force to bring the charge from the reference position rref to r,
F = force exerted on charge q by Q,
E = electric field due to Q.

Usually UE is set to zero when rref is infinity:

so

Since E and therefore F,r, and s, are all radially directed from Q, F and ds must be antiparallel and so

using Coulomb's law:

The electric field is conservative so the work is path independent allowing the integral to easily be evaluated:

Sometimes the factor ke called Coulomb's constant is used in these expressions. In SI units, the Coulomb constant is given by

in turn is the electric constant.

The electrostatic potential energy, UE, of one point charge q in the presence of n point charges Q n, taking an infinite separation between the charges as the reference position, is:

where is Coulomb's constant, ri is the distance between the point charges q & Q i, and q & Q i are the signed values of the charges.

Electrostatic potential energy stored in a system of point charges

The electrostatic potential energy U E stored in a system of two charges is equal to the electrostatic potential energy of a charge in the electrostatic
potential generated by the other. That is to say, if charge q1 generates an electrostatic potential Φ1, which is a function of position r, then

Doing the same calculation with respect to the other charge, we obtain

This can be generalized to say that the electrostatic potential energy U E stored in a system of N charges q1, q2 , ..., qN at positions r1, r2 , ..., rN
respectively, is:

In a Two point charges system, Electric

potential energy UE of q in the
potential well created by Q1 is
, (1)

where, for each i value, Φ(ri) is the electrostatic potential due to all point charges except the one at ri.[note 3]

One point charge

The electrostatic potential energy of a system containing only one point charge is zero, as there are no other sources of electrostatic potential against which an external agent must do work
in moving the point charge from infinity to its final location.

Two point charges

Consider bringing a point charge, q, into its final position in the vicinity of a point charge, Q 1. The electrostatic potential Φ(r) due to Q 1 is
Hence we obtain, the electric potential energy of q in the potential of Q1 as

where r1is the separation between the two point charges.

Three point charges

The electrostatic potential energy of a system of three charges should not be confused with the electrostatic potential energy of Q 1 due to two
charges Q 2 and Q 3, because the latter doesn't include the electrostatic potential energy of the system of the two charges Q2 and Q3 .

The electrostatic potential energy stored in the system of three charges is:

Outline of proof Electrostatic potential energy of q due

to Q1 and Q2 charge system, :
Using the formula given in (1), the electrostatic potential energy of the system of the three charges will then be:

Where is the electric potential in r1 created by charges Q2 and Q3 , is the electric potential in r2 created by charges Q1 and
Q 3 , and is the electric potential in r3 created by charges Q 1 and Q 2. The potentials are:

Where rab is the distance between charge Q a and Q b .

If we add everything:

Finally, we get that the electrostatic potential energy stored in the system of three charges:

Energy stored in an electrostatic field distribution

The energy density, or energy per unit volume, , of the electrostatic field of a continuous charge distribution is:

Outline of proof

One may take the equation for the electrostatic potential energy of a continuous charge distribution and put it in terms of the electrostatic field.

Since Gauss' law for electrostatic field in differential form states

where

is the electric field vector

is the total charge density including dipole charges bound in a material
is the permittivity of free space,

then,

so, now using the following divergence vector identity

we have
 using the divergence theorem and taking the area to be at infinity where

So, the energy density, or energy per unit volume of the electrostatic field is:

Energy in electronic elements

Some elements in a circuit can convert energy from one form to another. For example, a resistor converts electrical energy to heat, this is known as the Joule effect. A capacitor stores it in
its electric field. The total electric potential energy stored in a capacitor is given by

where C is the capacitance, V is the electric potential difference, and Q the charge stored in the capacitor.

Notes
1. ^ The reference zero is usually taken to be a state in which the individual point charges are very well separated ("are at infinite separation") and are at rest.
2. ^ Alternatively, it can also be defined as the work W done by the an external force to bring it from the reference position rref to some position r. Nonetheless, both definitions yield the same results.
3. ^ The factor of one half accounts for the 'double counting' of charge pairs. For example, consider the case of just two charges.

References
1. ^ Electromagnetism (2nd edition), I.S. Grant, W.R. Phillips, Manchester Physics Series, 2008 ISBN 0-471-92712-0
2. ^ Halliday, David; Resnick, Robert; Walker, Jearl (1997). "Electric Potential". Fundamentals of Physics (5th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-10559-7.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Electric_potential_energy&oldid=556899330"
Categories: Forms of energy Electrostatics Electricity Electric power

This page was last modified on 26 May 2013 at 18:27.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.