Question

A student asked, “Since electrical potential is always proportional to potential energy, why bother with the concept of potential at all?” How would you respond?

Short answer

The electric field is a conservative field and depending on the electrical potential- As We know to calculate the electric potential needs at least two charges one of them is a test charge. If We put a test charge in a medium of many charges, then the electric field generates around the test charge due to the surrounding charges.

Step-by-step solution

About electric potential 

The electric potential difference between points A and B, VB−VA is defined to be the change in potential energy of a charge q moved from A to B, divided by the charge.Units of potential difference are joules per coulomb, given the name volt (V) after Alessandro Volta.

Determine the potential

Solution:

As we know the electric field is a conservative field- Also, We know that the electric field is given by the following relation:

As we know in mechanics in general, We have two important concepts energy and potentiaL As We mention the electric field is a conservative field and depending on the electrical potentiaL As We know to calculate the electric potential needs at least two charges one of them is a test charge- If we put a test charge in a medium of many charges, then the electric filed generates around the test charge due to the surrounding charges- In general, We have electric potential and mechanical potential-

Therefore

The electric field is a conservative field and depending on the electrical potential- As We know to calculate the electric potential needs at least two charges one of them is a test charge. If We put a test charge in a medium of many charges, then the electric field generates around the test charge due to the surrounding charges.