Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Electric potential

At a point in space, the electric potential (also called the "electrostatic potential") is potential energy divided by charge that is associated with a static (time-invariant) electric field. It is a scalar quantity, typically measured in volts.
There is also a generalized electric scalar potential that is used in electrodynamics when time-varying electromagnetic fields are present. This generalized electric potential cannot be simply interpreted as the ratio of potential energy to charge, however.

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