Electric potential between two opposite charges
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Electric field is not the same as potential - Electric field is the gradient, or rate of change of potential.
Potential at some point is the sum of the potentials contributed at that point by all other charges in the system.
In your system of a pair equal but opposite charges, at any point equidistant from each (say, half way between them), the positive charge contributes the same magnitude as the negative charge, but with opposite sign, so the potential there adds up to zero.
But either side of that mid-point, the potentials do not cancel - there’s a higher potential on the side closer to the positive charge, and a lower potential on the other, forming a potential gradient. As said, a potential gradient is an electric field.
Hope it helps you buddy...
Potential at some point is the sum of the potentials contributed at that point by all other charges in the system.
In your system of a pair equal but opposite charges, at any point equidistant from each (say, half way between them), the positive charge contributes the same magnitude as the negative charge, but with opposite sign, so the potential there adds up to zero.
But either side of that mid-point, the potentials do not cancel - there’s a higher potential on the side closer to the positive charge, and a lower potential on the other, forming a potential gradient. As said, a potential gradient is an electric field.
Hope it helps you buddy...
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