Conservation of electric energy
Read Tipler and Mosca (2004) chapter 23 (Electric
potential); Pelcovits and
Farkas (2024) chapter 10 (Electrostatic) pp.289–302.
You should be able to describe changes in a system due to
a difference in electric potential between two locations.
Conservation of electric energy
When a charged object \(q\) moves between two locations with different electric potentials, the resulting change in the electric potential energy \(\Delta U_E\) of the object-field system is given by the following: \[\begin{equation} \Delta U_E = q \Delta V. \end{equation}\]
The movement of a charged object between two points with different electric potentials results in a change in kinetic energy of the object consistent with the conservation of energy.
Review: Conservation of energy
The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an
isolated system remains constant; it is said to be conserved over
timesee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy
.
The kinetic energysee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_energy
of an object translating at velocity \(v\) is given by: \[\begin{equation}
KE = \frac{1}{2} m v^2.
\end{equation}\]
The (change in) gravitational potential energysee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_energy
of an object as it is raised a height \(h\), approximately for objects near the
surface of the earth, is given by: \[\begin{equation}
\Delta GPE = mgh.
\end{equation}\]
If the object is not near the surface of the earth, or motion is large so that the change in distance is significant, this equation does not apply.
See also
- list here