Electric Potential vs Potential Energy

[cemar.]

what is the difference between the electric potential andn the potential energy??

 

[chrsr34]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_potential"

Chris

 

[Google_Spider]

hmmm...I guess electric potential is the potential *only* due to electric field around the body, whereas potential energy is the sum of electric potential+Gravitational potential+any other potential you can have(like if there are magnets lying around?)

 

[cepheid]

Electric potential has units of potential energy PER UNIT CHARGE. It's useful, because if you have a fixed source charge, and you want to know what the potential energy of the system will be if you add a test charge a certain distance away from it, the answer of course will vary depending on the value of the test charge. The potential expresses it on a per unit charge basis, giving you a sensible way to measure the "strength" of this source.