Guide 20-2.

Electrostatic Concepts and Relationships

It's easy to get overwhelmed with the various concepts and relationships for electrostatics. What is
fundamental? What is derived? When can you use what relationships? We provide this table to help answer
these questions in an organized way. We also include some more general concepts and relationships that
we've used throughout the year.

Row Be wary of using relationships notDescription

Item given in the table above. Such relationships
Condition are probably
for validity
derived and not fundamental. You're generally expected to start problem solutions with definitions and
fundamental laws and relationships. An example of something not toMay startbewith
usedisfor
Welpoint
= qEd. This
formula makes an assumption about the direction between the forcecharges
and displacement. You should
but not distributions
Fel = k|qinstead
1|| Coulomb's Law gives the electrical force between two
be able to derive the relationship from the more fundamentalofrelationships:
1 charges. For W i = Fidcos and E =
example,
q2|/r -V/s. point charges separated by distance r.
don't use Coulomb's Law for
a charged plate.

Definition of electric field. The direction of the field is

Example Problem
2 E = Fel/q the direction of the electric force on a positive test always valid
charge placed in the field.
This problem illustrates some of the important concepts and relationships above. Click here to open an
animation. Read the description accompanying the applet and then run the animation. Here are some
Given
things the electric field, this relationship gives the force
3 Fel = important
qE to note. always valid
on charge q placed in the field.
i. The field and the force are in the same direction. (How could youvalid get the
for field and forces
constant force to point in
Definition of work. Work done by a force F on an object
opposite directions?) where the direction between
4 Wi = Fidcos is the product of the force and the displacement of the
the force and displacement is
object
ii. The field in the
points direction
in the of the
direction in force.
which the electric potential Valso
is decreasing.
constant This is a matter of
definition, and is always true. It's a consequence of the negative sign in the relationship E = -V/s and the
5 Wext =fact
Ethat
sys
sLaw
is defined to be in the
of conservation of direction
energy of E. always valid
iii. The electric potential
Definition energyenergy.
of potential Uel (notThe
thechange
same as
in electric
potentialpotential) is greatest when a positive
6 particle
U = -Wc is next to the positive plate and when a negative
energy is the negative of the work done by a particle is next to the
always negative plate. Uel decreases
valid
as the particle moves away from
conservative force. the plate.

iv. The work done by of

Application thethe
electric fieldofWpotential
definition el increases as the
energy to particle moves. The electric force and the
7 Uel displacement
= -Wel are inforce always force
the same direction. Hence, the work done by the electric valid is positive.
electric

Now consider this question:

Definition What
of potential is the relationship
difference. between
It is the change in the the electric potential energy and the work
done by the electricenergy
potential field onper
theunit
particle?
charge.The bar graph
A charge shouldinhelp
q placed the you to see this relationship. Try to
answer forfield
yourself. Then aclick
undergoes hereinfor
change the answer.
potential energy Uel when
passing through a potential difference V
8 V = Uel/q always valid
Note that rearranging the formula to Uel = qV
provides a way to calculate the change in electric
potential energy, given the charge and potential
difference.

Relationship between electric field and potential

difference. If a particle undergoes a displacement s in valid for uniform electric
9 E = -V/s
the direction of the electric field E, the difference in fields
potential that the particle experiences is -V.

Electric potential energy of a system of two charges. If valid for collections of point
there are more than two charges, one sums all possible charges. The electric potential
10 Uel = kq1q2/r
products of the charges, taken in pairs. (See Active energy is taken to be 0 at
Example 20-3.) infinity.

Electric potential of a point charge Q or a uniform

valid for a point charge or
spherical distribution of charge Q at distance r from the
uniform spherical distribution
11 V = kQ/r point charge or the center of the sphere. If there is more
of charge. The potential is
than one charge, one finds the sum of the potentials of
taken to be 0 at infinity.
all the charges.