Potential of a Point Charge

The simplest example of the use of the definition of the electric potential, is evaluation of the potential of a single point charge. The electric field points radially away from the point charge: The path is also chosen to be radially outward so that the integrand of the line integral simplifies significantly: With the appropriate choice of path, the line integral becomes a simple integral over r: Using the convention of setting the potential to zero for infinite distance from the charge, i.e.V = 0 for rB approaching infinity, yields the following formula for the value of electric potential at an arbitrary point from a point charge:

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Last updated Feb. 16, 1998.
Copyright George Watson, Univ. of Delaware, 1997.