Electric Potential Energy and Potential

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Physics Electromagnetism Electric Potential Energy and Potential

	Potential due to point charges:
	Consider an isolated positive point charge Q. This produces an electric field. Now the potential at a point located at a distance r from the charge can be calculated by considering the integral: It is customary to choose the reference point at infinite so that r_A = ∞ and r_B = r. Thus, the electric potential created by a point charge at any distance r from the charge is: For a group of point charges the potential is given by, Electric Potential of Continuous Charge Distributions: The electric potential for a continuous charge distribution can be found as follows: By using this integral we can find the electric potential for a continuous charge distribution. Some of the examples are given as follows: (i) For a uniformly charged ring the potential is given as: ,a = radius,x = distance of the center from the point. (ii)For a finite line of charge the potential is given as: , l = length of the distribution, a = distance of the point from the origin.