Physics 132 - General Physics II - Professor Bunson Fall 2001 Previous Lecture | Phys 132 Home | Next Lecture

Today's Lecture (9/14):

Summary:

Given the electric field, you can find the force on a point charge by multiplying by the field at the location of the charge by the amount of charge. A similar formula works for potential and potential energy. As this formula suggests, only differences in potential are meaningful. If an absolute potential is given, most likely the reference point is at infinity where V=0. Since there can be no field inside a conductor, it takes no work to move an electron around inside the conductor. Therefore, the potential has to be a constant everywhere inside a conductor. Since we know the field around a point charge, we can find the potential at a distance R from the charge. Here, you can see why it is convenient to call V=0 at infinity.

Conceptests:

Today's conceptests

Worked Problems:

Today's problem

Links:

None today.

Assignments:

Next Reading Assignment (due 9/17) Next Homework (due 9/19)

Diversion-of-the-week:

Here's one of my favorite diversions: juggling. This website will show you how. If you want some tips on this, ask me at the physics picnic this weekend.

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