PHYSICS

TOPIC 07

ELECTRIC POTENTIAL AND CAPACITOR

UNIVERSITAS BINA NUSANTARA

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT

Prof. Dr. Mangasi Alion Marpaung, Drs., M.Si.
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL AND CAPACITOR

These slides have been adapted

from

Halliday D.; Resnick R. and

Walker J. (2018). Fundamentals
Of Physics ,Extended,
11th , John Wiley & SONS Inc,
New York, ISBN: 9781119306856

Chapter: 24 and 25
 Content

1. Potential energy of electric charges

2. Electric Potential
3. Electic Potential Due to Distribution of Charges
4. Equipotential Surfaces
5. Relation between Electric Potential and Electric Feld
6. Capacitor and its capacitance
7. Energy Stored in a Capacitor
8. Energy Density
9. Capacitor Circuits
 1.POTENTIAL ENERGY OF ELECTRIC CHARGES
• When an electrostatic force acts between two or more charged particles within a
system of particles, we can assign an electric potential energy U to the system.
• If the system changes its configuration from an initial state i to a different final
state f, the electrostatic force does work W on the particles. If the resulting
change is U,
• ΔU = Uf –Ui =-W
• As with other conservative forces, the work done by the electrostatic force is
path independent.
• Usually the reference configuration of a system of charged particles is taken to
be that in which the particles are all infinitely separated from one another. The
corresponding reference potential energy is usually set be zero. Therefore,
• U = -W∞
• Definition of work is : W
• For F is electrostatic force, then:
• =

• This equation state that the work done by the electrostatic force from the
configration of two electric charge separated r i become rf .

qm ri qn qm rf qn

• The value of W may be positive or negative

• The quantity is said as elctric potential enegy between two point charge that
separated r each other
• The work done of external force to change the configuraton of two charge from the
initial separation ri to final separation rf is the difference of its potential energy

WAB = UB – UA = -

Example:
Calculate the work done by external force and by electrostatic force to change the
separation of two electric charges of -10 C and +5 C from 5 cm to 10 cm
• Calculation:
•-
• = 9 109 .(-10 10-6 )(5 10-6 )

= 4,5 Joule (by external force)

= - 4.5 Joule (by electrostatic force

 2.Electric Potential

The potential energy per unit charge at a point in an electric field is called the
electric potential V (or simply the potential)

at that point. This is a scalar quantity. Thus,

𝑞 𝑞0
𝑘
𝑈 𝑟 𝑞
𝑉= = =𝑘
𝑞0 𝑞0 𝑟

The electric potential difference V between any two points i and f in an electric
field is equal to the difference in potential energy per unit charge between the two
points. Thus,

∆ 𝑉 =𝑉 𝑓 −𝑉 𝑖 =𝑘𝑞
( 1
−
1
𝑟 𝑓 𝑟𝑖 )
Examples:
1. Find the potential difference between point A and B if their located 5 cm and 10 cm from electric charge
q=10 nC respectively

A
5 cm

q
10 cm B

= 900 Volt

Point A has higher potensial then B

2. Calculate the energy requaired to move the electron from point A to
B at example 1
Using the relation thus U = q0 V = 1.6 10-19 x 900
=14.4 10-17 Joule r 900 eV

1 eV = 1.6 x 10-19Joule
 3. Electic Potential Due to Distribution of Charges:

A. Point Charges
The net potential at a point due to a group of point charges can
be found with the help of the superposition principle.
First the individual potential resulting from each charge is
considered at the given point. Then we sum the potentials.
For n charges, the net potential is
 Potential Due to an Electric Dipole

Electric dipole is a couple of electric charge that same magnitude

but difference kind and seprated
At P, the positive point charge
P (at distance r(+)) sets up potential
r(+)
V(+) and the negative point
+q charge (at distance r(-)) sets up
r
d O r(-) potential V(-).Then the net
r(+) potential at P is:
-q r - r
(-) (+)

+q r(-)
d
-q r - r
(-) (+)
Naturally occurring dipoles are quite small; so we are usually interested only in
points that are relatively far from the dipole, such that d«r, where d is the distance
between the charges. If p = qd,
 B. Continuous Charge Distribution

𝑑𝑞
𝑉 =𝑘∫
Example: Line (rod) charge
𝑟 The potential at P due to
the element dq depends
on the distance r. We
need to sum the
.P A thin, uniformly .P potentials due to all the
charged rod elements, from the left
produces an side (X=0) to the right
d electric potential V d r side (X=L).
at point P.
dq
L X=0 X=L
X dX
Fig. 6 (a)and (b) An element (dX) can be treated as a particle.
If l is the charge per unit length, then the charge on length dx is:

and

The potential at point P from the rod is:

[ ]
𝑥= 𝐿 1 /2
 𝑑𝑥 𝐿+ ( 𝐿 2+ 𝑑 2 )
𝑉 𝑃 =𝑘 ∫ 1
=𝑘  𝑙𝑛
𝑑
𝑥=0
( 𝑥 +𝑑 )
2 2 2

By using integral technique

 4. EQUIPOTENTIAL SURFACES:
• Adjacent points that have the same electric potential form an equipotential surface,
which can be either an imaginary surface or a real, physical surface.

• No net work W is done on a charged particle by an electric field when the particle
moves between two points i and f on the same equipotential surface.

Portions of four equipotential

surfaces at electric potentials V1=100
V, V2=80 V, V3 =60 V, and V4
=40 V. Four paths along which a test
charge may move are shown. Two
electric field lines are also indicated.
Electric field lines (purple) and
cross sections of equipotential
surfaces (gold) for (a) a uniform
electric field, (b) the field due to a
point charge, and (c) the field due
to an electric dipole.
 5. RELATION BETWEEN ELECTRIC POTENTIAL AND ELECTRIC
FELD

Relation between electric potential and electric field obtained from the relation:

=-

or
𝐄 =− gradience V =− 𝛻 𝑉 =− 𝒊^(𝜕𝑉 ^ 𝜕𝑉 ^ 𝜕𝑉
+𝑗
𝜕𝑥
+𝑘
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧 )
If in the region there is the potental difference means that in that region
also there is electric field and vice versa
 Two points i and f in a uniform electric field E. The point lie on
the same electric field line (not shown) and are separaed by a
distace d. Find the potential difference Vf – Vi by moving a
positive test charge q0 from i to f along the path shown, which is
Example parallel to the field direction.

Calculation:

=-
=-
 6. Capacitor and its capacitance

Capactor
Two conductor, isolated electrically from each other and from their
surroundings, form a capacitor

When the capacitor is charged, the charges on the conducor, or plates as they
are called, have the same magnitude q but opposite signs. However, we refer to
the charge of a capacitor as being q
Parallel plates capacitor, made up
of two plates of area A separted
by a distace d

As the plates charged,

elctric field is generated
between the plates
The electric field is uniform
in the central region
The electric field is not
niform at the edges of the
plates
 CAPACITANCE

The capacitor is charged by

connecting the plates ( h and l) to the
terminals of batteray B throw the
switch S. When the switch closed,
the plates is charged until the
potential difference between the
plates and the batteray is equal.

The charge q and the potential diffrence of the capacitor are proportional to
each other, that is:
q=CV

The proportionality constant C is called the capacitance of the capacitor

The SI unit of the capacitance C is called farad (F) 1 farad (1F) = 1 coulomb per volt =
1 C/V
 Calculating the Capacitance:

Parallel plates capacitor To relate the electric field E between the

plates of a capacitor to the charge q on either
plate, we use Gauss’ law:

Here q is the charge enclosed by a Gaussian surface and is the net

electric flux through that surface. In our special case in the figure,

in which A is the area of that part of the Gaussian surface through which there
is a flux.
 The potential difference between the plates of a capacitor is
related to the field E by

If V is the difference Vf -Vi ,

q=CV 0 E A = C E d
 7. CAPACITOR WITH DIELECTRIC

A dielectric, is an insulating material such as mineral oil or plastic, and is

characterized by a numerical factor k, called the dielectric constant of the
material.
Some dielectrics, such as strontium titanate, can increase the capacitance by
more than two orders of magnitude.
The introduction of a dielectric also limits the potential difference that can be
applied between the plates to a certain value Vmax, called the breakdown
potential. Every dielectric material has a characteristic dielectric strength, which
is the maximum value of the electric field that it can tolerate without breakdown.
 8. ENERGY STORED IN A CAPACITOR

Suppose that, at a given instant, a charge q’ has been transferred from one plate of a capacitor to
the other. The potential difference V’ between the plates at that instant will be q’/C. If an extra
increment of charge dq’ is then transferred, the increment of work required will be,

The work required to bring the total capacitor charge up to a final value q is

This work is stored as potential energy U in the capacitor, so that,

This can also be expressed as:

 Energy Density

In a parallel-plate capacitor, neglecting fringing, the electric field has the same value at all
points between the plates. Thus, the energy density u—that is, the potential energy per unit
volume between the plates—should also be uniform.
We can find u by dividing the total potential energy by the volume Ad of the space between
the plates.

But since(C =e 0A/d), this result becomes

However, (E=-dV/ds), V/d equals the electric field magnitude E. Therefore.

Example, Potential Energy and Energy Density of an
Electric Field:
 9. CAPACITOR CIRCUITS

1. Parallel circuit
When a potential difference V is applied
across several capacitors connected in
parallel, that potential difference V is applied
across each capacitor. The total charge q
stored on the capacitors is the sum of the
charges stored on all the capacitors.

Capacitors connected in parallel can be

replaced with an equivalent capacitor that has
the same total charge q and the same
potential difference V as the actual
capacitors.
2. Series circuit
When a potential difference V is applied
across several capacitors connected in
series, the capacitors have identical charge
q. The sum of the potential differences across
all the capacitors is equal to the applied
potential difference V.

Capacitors that are connected in series can

be replaced with an equivalent capacitor that
has the same charge q and the same total
potential difference V as the actual series
capacitors.
THANK YOU
UNIVERSITAS BINA NUSANTARA