- #1
fog37
- 1,568
- 108
Hello forum members,
The electric potential for a point charge is a scalar function given by $$V = \frac {kq}{r}$$
This means that the potential has a nonzero value everywhere. The potential becomes ##V=0## when ##r=\infty##. However we know that what matters is the potential difference ##\Delta V## and not the absolute value of potential at each spatial point. This is because the physically important and measurable quantities like force and electric field depend on that difference and not on the absolute value of V at each spatial point...
How would we make the potential to be ##V=0## not at infinity but at different spatial point, like ##r= 5##? How do we modify the function ##V = \frac {kq}{r}##? Like this
$$V = \frac {kq}{r-5}$$
Is that it?
Thanks,
fog37
The electric potential for a point charge is a scalar function given by $$V = \frac {kq}{r}$$
This means that the potential has a nonzero value everywhere. The potential becomes ##V=0## when ##r=\infty##. However we know that what matters is the potential difference ##\Delta V## and not the absolute value of potential at each spatial point. This is because the physically important and measurable quantities like force and electric field depend on that difference and not on the absolute value of V at each spatial point...
How would we make the potential to be ##V=0## not at infinity but at different spatial point, like ##r= 5##? How do we modify the function ##V = \frac {kq}{r}##? Like this
$$V = \frac {kq}{r-5}$$
Is that it?
Thanks,
fog37