Electric Field and Electric Potential

As the charges can be of two types, positive and negative, their interaction often leads to the formation of various fields, such as the electric field. The strength of an electric field is measured by the electric field intensity. An electric field is an area surrounding an electrically charged particle.

The electric potential is the total amount of energy needed in order to move a single unit of electric charge from a certain point to another specific point in an electric field. The electric field and electric field potential are correlated to each other. Let us study them in detail.

Electric Field

Before exploring the relation between electric field and electric potential, let’s take a brief look at what is individual.

The force field which surrounds an electrically charged particle and exerts a force upon other charged particles that right to enter the field is called the electric field. An electric field can be of two types: a static electric field and an electric field in which the charged particles move.

The electric field in which charged particles move leads to the formation of electric current. This electric current results in the generation of a magnetic field.The electric field and the magnetic field interact with each other, which leads to the electromagnetic field. The electromagnetic field has wide applications in technology such as kitchen appliances, MRI scanning, etc.The strength of an electric field is measured by electric field intensity or electric field strength. The unit of the same is Newtons/Coulombs.

The behaviour of the electric field under coord transformation is a vector. The direction of an electric field is perpendicular to the direction of the flow of electric current. The field that deals with static electric charges is called electrostatics. 

According to Coulomb’s law, the strength of an electric field is equal to the ratio of force exerted on the test particle to the charge on the test particle. There is a definite relation between electric field and electric potential.

Uniform Electric Field

The uniform electric field is one in which the value of field intensity remains the same throughout the entire field at all points.

Electric Potential

The electric potential is the amount of energy required to move a single unit of electric charge from a particular point to another point in an electric field.

To be precise, the energy needed per unit charges electric potential. The electric potential is a scalar quantity.

The symbol used to represent the electric potential is V. 

Mathematically, the electric potential is considered a continuous function in space. The electric field can also be expressed in terms of electric potential.

That’s why there is a relation between electric field and electric potential. 

The formula for electric potential:

The electric potential because of a point charge can be calculated by the following formula:

V=kQ/r

The Dimensional Formula

The dimensional formula of the electric field and the electric field potential is as given below.

• For the Electric Field:

The unit of the electric field is Newtons / Coulombs; hence the dimensional formula will be MLT-3I-1

• For the Electric Potential:

The electric potential is a product of potential energy and charge of the particle in inverse. Hence, the dimensional formula of electric potential is given below: 

ML2T-3I-1

From both of the dimension formulas, we can determine the relationship between the electric field and the magnetic field.

The Relation between Electric Field and Electric Potential

The relation between electric field and electric potential is similar to the relation between the gravitational field and gravitational potential.

The electric potential at a given point is the quotient of the division between potential energy and the charge of the particle. 

The relation between electric field and electric potential can be seen as they have inverse Coulomb, that is C-1 common factor.

The electric field and electric potential differ by a factor of distance only. 

The relation between an electric field and electric potential can be mathematically represented as below:

 E = – (DV/dx)

Here, E represents the electric field. The electric potential is represented by V. The dx represents the path length and the minus sign can be attributed to the electric gradient. From the equation, it can be seen that the relation between the electric field and the magnetic field is differential in nature. 

The direction of Electric Field

The direction of the electric field depends upon the electric potential.

The direction of the electric field is positive if the field is directed from lower potential towards higher potential.

• If the direction of the field is from higher potential to lower potential, then the direction is taken as negative.
• The electric field can be defined in terms of electric potential as a scalar quantity.

Such as the relation between the electric field and the electric potential.

Conclusion

The interaction of positive and negative charges with each other leads to the formation of the electric field. Electric fields around electrically charged particles. A Uniform electric field is one in which intensity is the same at all points.

Potential is the energy required to transfer one unit charge from one point in an electric field to another point in the same electric field. Electric potential and electric field are both related to each other.

The relation can be represented by the equation:

E = -(DV/dx)

The electric field is a type of vector quantity because electric potential is a scalar quantity.