a) Students in lab are arguing about the difference between electric field and e

Question

a) Students in lab are arguing about the difference between electric field and electric potential . Frieda says, “ The two things are very nearly the same thing but the field is a vector thing and potential is a scalar, so it's just the magnitude of the field ." Beatrix says, " No Dude , that can't be right. There's an extra "r" in the denominator of the field equation so they're not the same number when calculated ." Sebastian says, " The electric field tells us th e force per charge and the electric potential is the potential energy per charge . And force and potential energy aren't the same things. And Frieda isn’t a Dude. " Name which, if any, of these students you agree with and why, e xplain ing briefly. b) Electric potential is really a n electric potential difference between two points, and yet, in the equation for the electric potential due to a single (point) charge, there is no subtraction or difference in that equation. Explain this apparent contradiction briefl y. c) Your study buddy is telling you that the electric field between the plates of a parallel plate capacitor can't be constant if the voltage is changing across that space; since V=Es , if V changes, clearly E must also be changing. Your reply?

Explanation / Answer

a)
Sebastian is correct.

electruc field is the force per unit charge.

E = F/q

and

Potentail is the workdone(or Energy) per unit charge.

V = W/q

b)

potentail at point A,

v = VA - V_inifite

v = VA - 0 (at infinite distance potentail is zero)

v = vA

c) yea.

if d is the distance between the plates.

E = V/d

as V changes E also changes.

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