Introduction

Introduction

• Uptill now, we have studied the Coulomb's law and electric field intensity due to various types of charge distributions. Similarly Gauss's law and its applications under various charge distributions are also discussed. In this chapter, another important aspect related to an electrostatic field is discussed, which is electric potential. The electric scalar potential can be conveniently used to obtain electric field intensity  . This is another method of obtaining vector field  , from the electric scalar potential. The other parameters such as potential difference, the relation between field intensity and the electric potential, potential gradient are also discussed in this chapter. Before defining an electric potential, let us study the work done in moving a charge in an electric field.