Thanks for the replies. I think the fault in my reasoning may have been that I only considered the effect of one charge on the other.
I have done multi-variable calculus, if you have time i'd like to see the details.
Thanks again.
Apologies in advance if this question seems trivial, I seem to have missed something conceptually and would like some clarification.
If an electric field from a point charge does work on another charge and thereby loses energy, where does the lost energy come from?
It is my understanding that...