PHYS 142 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Capacitor, Electric Field
Document Summary
Phys 142: electromagnetism and optics lecture 8 : electric potential. We define the electric potential v (or, for brevity, just the potential) as: The unit of electric potential is the joule per coulomb, which is called the volt v: 1 volt = 1 v = 1 j/c. The electric potential, like the electric field, is a property of the source charges. The electric potential inside a parallel plate capacitor: The electric potential inside a parallel-plate capacitor is v = es ; where s is the distance form the negative electrode. The potential difference vc, or voltage between the two capacitor plates is: If we know a capacitor"s voltage v and the distance between the plates d, then the electric field strength within the capacitor is: This implies that the units of electric field are volts per meter, or v/m. Previously, we have been using electric field units of newtons per coulomb.