2 Questions: How Electric Potential affects a charge

[Iftekhar Uddin]

1. There's a picture of Electric Field lines going down. Now between these electric field lines (affected by them) are points A and B at differing heights and positions. My question is, how does potential change as you go up/down and left/right? I would like to think that going down means you're going with the electric field so

ΔV = +Ed which would be higher than going up and against the electric field ΔV = -Ed

But how about moving left to right and vice versa in a electric field moving down? I'd think they're equal to 0 because they don't move along the E or against it and therefore their distance is neither + or -.2. Another question about potential: If you drop a proton between 2 sheets, one being +80V and the other being -80V, what would happen to the proton? I'd say it stays in the middle because the same, but opposing, electric fields would be affecting it.

 

[Iftekhar Uddin]

on second thought for #1, there should be a plot which tells me that right is positive if I'm going in the positive X direction.

 

[Chandra Prayaga]

on second thought for #1, there should be a plot which tells me that right is positive if I'm going in the positive X direction.

Regarding your original two questions:
1. If the electric field lines are pointing "down", that means the potential decreases as you go down (or increases as you go up). If you move perpendicular to the field lines, the potential does not change.
2. There are no opposing fields between two charged sheets. There is an electric field pointing from the positive sheet to the negative sheet. As the proton drops, its path is deflected in the direction of the field.
I a not sure what you mean by your second positing. You should provide a diagram which shows the coordinate system and positions of the charges, etc.