POTENTIAL ENERGY OF A SYSTEM OF CHARGES

The electric P.E of a system of point charges is defined as the work done in
assembling the charges at their locations by bringing them in, from infinity.
CASE 1: IN THE ABSENCE OF AN EXTERNAL ELCTRIC FIELD
Q. Deduce the expression for P.E of a system of two point charges
We consider two charges and initially at infinity. To bring from infinity to the
point A, no work has to be done as there is no electric field. So . Now at the point
A produces a potential at the point B at a distance r from A and is given by,
To bring from infinity to the point B, work has to be done against the electric field
of . Therefore, .
Total work done, . This work done gets stored as the P.E (U) of the system.
Potential energy of the system, .
NOTE:
1. If (two like charges), then U is positive.
2. If (two unlike charges), then U is negative.
Q. Deduce the expression for P.E of a system of three point charges.
We consider three charges , and initially at infinity. To bring from infinity to the point A,
no work has to be done as there is no electric field. So . Now at the point A produces a
potential at B distant from A and is given by,
To bring from infinity to the point B, work has to be done against the electric field of .
Therefore, .
Charges and produce potentials at the point C given by .
To bring from infinity to the point C, work has to be done against the electric fields of
and . .
The total work done in assembling the three charges,
.
This work done gets stored in the form of P.E (U).

NOTE:
If there are 4 point charges as in a square,
CASE 2: IN THE PRESENCE OF AN EXTERNAL ELCTRIC FIELD
a) P.E of a single charge in an external electric field
In order to bring a charge q from infinity to a point P in an external electric field, work has
to be done against the field. This work is stored in the form of P.E of q. If r is the distance of
the q relative to some origin, then . Therefore P.E is given by
b) P.E of a system of two charges in an external electric field
Consider two point charges and initially at infinity. To bring from infinity to the point A in
the external field, work has to be done against the external electric field. Let be the potential
at A due to the existing field. So the work done is .
Let B be a point in the field at a distance r from point A. Let be the potential at B due to the
existing field. To bring from infinity to the point B, work is done not only against the
existing external electric field but also against the field due to .
The total work done in assembling the charges P.E (U) of the system.

NOTE:
a) P.E increases if a test charge moves opposite to (electric force).
b) P.E decreases if a test charge moves in the direction of (electric force).

GRAPHS
 NUMERICALS
1. A point charge +Q is placed at the point O as shown in the figure. Is the potential
difference positive, negative or zero?

2. A 500 charge is at the centre of a square of side 10cm. Find the work done in
moving a charge of 10 between two diagonally opposite points on the square.
3. Draw the equipotential surfaces corresponding to a uniform electric field in the z
direction.
4. In the given figure, charge +Q is placed at the centre of a dotted circle. Work done in
taking another charge +q from A to B is and from B to C is . Which one of the
following is correct: > , and ?
5. Figure shows field lines of a positive charge. Is the work done by the field in moving a
small positive charge from Q to P positive or negative? Give reason.

6. The field lines of a negative point charge are as shown in figure. Does the K.E of a small
negative charge increase or decrease in going from B to A?
7. Figure shows the field lines due to a negative point charge. Give the sign of potential
energy difference of a small negative charge between the points A and B.

8. The figure shows the field lines of a positive point charge. What will be the sign of the
potential energy difference of a small negative charge between the points Q and P? Justify
your answer.
9. Concentric equipotential surfaces due to a charged body placed at the centre are shown.
Identify the polarity of the charge and draw the electric field lines due to it.

10. Draw 3 equipotential surfaces corresponding to a field that uniformly increases in

magnitude but remains constant along z direction. How are these surfaces different from
that of a constant electric field along z direction?
11. Three points A, B and C lie in a uniform electric field of as shown in figure. Find the
potential difference between A and C.

12. Two charges and are 15cm apart. At what point on the line joining the two charges is
potential zero?
13. Twenty seven drops of same size are charged at 220V each. They coalesce to form a
bigger drop. Calculate the potential of the bigger drop.
14. Calculate the work done to dissociate the system of three charges placed on the vertices
of a triangle as shown in figure.
 WORKSHEET
1. Three point charges , and are placed at the vertices of an equilateral triangle ABC of side .
If these charges are displaced to the midpoints , and respectively, find the amount of work
done in shifting the charges to the new locations.

2. Four point charges are arranged at the corners of a square ABCD of side d as in fig. (i) Find
the work done to put together this arrangement. (ii) A charge is brought to the centre E of the
square, the four charges being held at its corners. How much extra work is needed to do this?
3. Electric field intensity at point B due to a point charge Q kept at point A is 24N/C and the
electric potential at point B due to same charge is 12J/C. calculate the distance AB and also
the magnitude of charge Q.
4. A charge of is given to a hollow metallic sphere of radius 0.2m. Find the potential (i) at the
surface of the sphere and (ii) at a distance of 0.1cm from the centre of the sphere.
5. Two charges and are located at points A(0,0,-a) and B (0,0,+a) respectively. How much
work is done in moving a test charge from point P(7,0,0) to Q(-3,0,0)?
6. The electric potential as a function of distance is shown in figure. Construct a graph of
electric field strength E.

7. A charge Q is distributed over the surface of two concentric hollow spheres of radii and
(R >> r), such that the surface charge densities are equal. Derive the expression for the
potential at the common centre.