Chapter 6: Electric Potential and Capacitance

**electrical potential energy**

Electric Potential

**Equipotential curves**

Formed using isolines of electric potential instead of electric field vectors.

**Equipotential map**

A drawing of several equipotential curves at various value of the potential for a charge distribution (which may or may not be specified).

Capacitor

A pair of conductors that carry equal but opposite charges, +*Q* and –*Q*, comprise a system.

Capacitance formula

**electric field,** ***E***

always points from the positive plate toward the negative plate, and its magnitude remains the same at every point between the plates, whether we choose a point close to the positive plate, closer to the negative plate, or between them.

Equation used to solve for the Energy Stored in a Capacitor

the capacitance of parallel-plate capacitors is

**Electric potential**

is the electrical equivalent of a change in height

**joules per coulomb**

the units of electric potential

**one volt** (abbreviated **V**)

one joule per coulomb

**equipotential surfaces**

spheres around *Q*

**V = kQ/r**

tells how to find the potential due to a single point source charge, *Q*

**equipotential surfaces**

are often imaginary

Capacitors

are basically storage devices for electrical potential energy

**one farad** (abbreviated **F**)

one coulomb per volt