Electrostatic potential independent of distance?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the calculation of potential energy (PE) for a packet of electrons in electrostatics. It is established that at a distance of zero (r = 0), the potential energy approaches infinity, creating a challenge for practical calculations. Participants agree that calculating PE without a defined distance is not feasible, and suggest imposing boundary conditions, such as ensuring an initial separation greater than zero, to derive a finite value for potential energy.

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  • Understanding of electrostatic potential energy concepts
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  • Knowledge of boundary conditions in physics
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Physics students, electrical engineers, and researchers in electrostatics who are exploring the complexities of potential energy calculations in charged particle systems.

Anti-Meson
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Say I have a packet of electrons just sitting there, before they repel each other, what is their potential energy?

I have no idea of how to calculate their potential energy since at r = 0 , U = infinity, which is not helpful since my problem requires U to be finite but the only way I know of that being true is that r does not = 0.

Any way of calculating PE without distance?
 
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hmmmm , I don't think this is possible .. do you have the exact question ?
 
I think it is impossible and so I just forced some boundary conditions. i.e. initial separation is not = 0.
 

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