← Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism syllabus

United StatesPhysics C: Electricity and Magnetism

Unit 9: Electric Potential

3 dot points across 3 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How does conservation of energy govern a charge moving through a potential difference?

Topic 9.3 Conservation of Electric Energy: apply conservation of energy to charges moving through potential differences, including charged particles accelerated by fields.
A calculus-based answer to AP Physics C E&M Topic 9.3, covering the work-energy theorem with electric forces, charges accelerated through a potential difference, the electronvolt, and energy conservation in combined fields.
10 min answer →

How is electric potential energy defined through the work done by the electric force?

Topic 9.1 Electric Potential Energy: relate electric potential energy to the work done by the electric force and compute it for point-charge systems.
A calculus-based answer to AP Physics C E&M Topic 9.1, covering work done by the electric force, the path independence of a conservative force, the potential energy of point-charge pairs, and assembling charge configurations.
11 min answer →

How is electric potential related to the field through integration, and how do you find the field from the potential?

Topic 9.2 Electric Potential: relate potential to the field by line integral, find potential by superposition, and recover the field as the gradient of the potential.
A calculus-based answer to AP Physics C E&M Topic 9.2, covering electric potential as potential energy per charge, the line-integral relation to the field, potential of point and continuous distributions, equipotentials, and recovering the field as a gradient.
12 min answer →