I'm trying to find electric potential.

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around calculating the electric potential at a corner of a rectangle where three corners have charges. The original poster is attempting to find the electric potential at the fourth corner, which does not contain a charge.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the relationship between electric potential and electric potential energy, questioning how to calculate the potential at a point without a charge. There are attempts to clarify the definitions and the necessary calculations involving distances and charges at the corners.

Discussion Status

Participants are exploring different interpretations of the problem, particularly regarding the calculation of electric potential at a point without a charge. Some guidance has been offered on summing potentials from the existing charges, but there is no explicit consensus on the correct approach or interpretation of the problem.

Contextual Notes

There is confusion regarding the definitions of electric potential and electric potential energy, particularly in relation to the absence of a charge at the fourth corner. The original poster's program response indicates a misunderstanding of the expected output.

+Jace090+
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Homework Statement


There is a 4 cm by 3 cm rectangle with 2.0 nC charges at three corners. I'm trying to find the electric potential of the last corner in V.

Homework Equations


U=(kQq)/r I think
V=(kq)/r I think

The Attempt at a Solution


I found the U's between the know corners but i don't know where to go from there.
 
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Hello Jace,
You add them up :) !
 
jfk.Figure.21.P16.jpg

In this situation? I don't know if I adequately described it.
 
I found the U's of the sides with dimensions.
 
Aww, sorry for the mistake, There is no electric potential in the 4th corner, because there is no charge there, However you can calculate the voltage there (V) .
 
oh... thank you.
 
Apparently there is because I typed in 0 and the program said I was wrong.
 
It wants the V for that point, so where would I go from having the U's of those adjacent to it?
 
Then, by electric potential he mean V (voltage), no charge means no electric potential energy (by intuition and the formula insists on that), however, calculate the voltage out there :)
 
Last edited:
  • #10
How would i go from U to V? What U would I use?
 
  • #11
You can't go from U to V, because there'there's no charge out there, but one thing you can do is use V = kQ/R
[Edit: you can't because you'll be dividing by zero, moreover U = 0]
 
  • #12
What Q and what R?Would i use the average?
 
  • #13
R is the distance to the 4th coner, Q is the charge at each corner.
Calculate the potential due to each charge and sum them up !
 

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