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6.4 Electric Potential Energy

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Electric Potential Energy

Just like with 2 masses that are a certain distance apart, when 2 point charges are separated by a distance, there will be some electric potential energy. The potential energy of 2 charges that are separated is defined as the work it takes for an external force to bring the charges from infinitely far away to where they currently are.

UE=kq1q2rU_E=k\frac{q_1q_2}{r}
  • UE{U_E} is the electric potential energy between the 2 charges
  • k{k} is Coulomb’s constant
  • q1{q_1} is the charge of the first charge
  • q2{q_2} is the charge of the second charge
  • r{r} is the distance between the center of charge of the charges

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