Physical meaning of electric potential and flux beyond their definitions

[semc]

Electric potential is defined as the amount of energy per unit charge and flux is defined as the product of the E field and the area passing through. Does electric field and flux have any other physical meaning other than the equation? What does it really mean when you say the potential at a point? Is the potential difference between 2 points the same as the potential difference between 2 hollow cylinder coaxial with one another with the same separation?

 

[torquil]

What does it really mean when you say the potential at a point? Is the potential difference between 2 points the same as the potential difference between 2 hollow cylinder coaxial with one another with the same separation?

Well, the potential at a point is related to the amount of work you need to do in order to move a unit charge from some reference location to the point you mention, e.g. from some point with potential 0V. The potential is a function that assigns such a value to each point in space.

I don't quite understand the question in the the second part of what I quoted. The potential between two points can be any value, depending on the configuration of the electric potential. So can the potential difference between two metal objects, e.g. two cylinders.

Torquil