Lesson Plan: Absolute Electric Potential Physics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to calculate the absolute electric potential at different positions due to combinations of radial electric fields.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- define the absolute electric potential due to the electric field of a point charge, , at a position, , as the work done on a unit positive test charge, , to move the test charge to from an infinite distance from ,
- relate the absolute electric potential, , due to the electric field of a point charge, , at a distance, , from the charge to and , using the equation , where is the coulomb constant,
- recognize that the work done, , on a unit positive test charge, , that moves within the electric field of a point charge, , is given by the equation , where is the separation distance of and ,
- recognize that the work done, , on a positive test charge, , that moves within the electric field of a point charge, , depends only on the change in the separation distance of and , and so it does not depend on the path that takes between an initial and final value of separation distance from .
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- Coulomb’s law,
- electric field of a point charge,
- electric potential difference.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- descriptions of the resultant electric potentials due to symmetrical distributions of electric charge.
