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Electric potential energy is the amount of electrical energy stored in a device, measured in volts. It is the work that can be done due to the location or configuration of charges. Gravitational potential energy is similar, with potential energy being released when a rock is dropped. Electric potential energy is measured in joules per coulomb and can be determined by the specific charges.
Electric potential energy is a measure of the amount of electrical energy stored in a particular location or device, such as a battery. The most common measure of electric potential energy is the volt. This technically simplifies potential energy into electric potential, except that it is measured per unit charge instead of taking into account all specific charges. It is the amount of work that can possibly be done due to the particular location or configuration of the electrical charges.
Understanding gravitational potential energy is a good way to start understanding the idea of electric potential energy. Gravity is a force that pulls all bodies of matter towards each other, and the Earth’s gravitational pull keeps things grounded. If someone were to hold a 2.2 pound (1 kg) rock 3.28 feet (1 m) above the Earth, he or she would basically be battling gravity. The gravitational force of the Earth would try to pull that rock down, and that force on the still rock is gravitational potential energy, which depends on the distance from the Earth and the weight of the object. Potential energy is released when the rock is dropped.
An electric charge can store energy in the same way as a rock held above the Earth. One could imagine a Van de Graff sphere – an electrical device that has a positive charge on the outside and which is often used in scientific experiments to show things like static electricity – and another positive electric charge kept away from the sphere. Pushing the positive charge towards the outer edge of the sphere would require a certain amount of energy to overcome the electrical repulsion created by the opposing field. This amount of energy is the electric potential energy, and is affected by the distance from the source of the electric field, as a rock held further above the Earth has more gravitational potential energy. If the charge held by the sphere were twice as powerful, it would have twice the potential energy, as would a heavier rock in the gravitational example.
To simplify the process of determining the specific electric potential energy for a given object or circuit, the term is usually simplified to account for the different charges. This measurement is given in joules per coulomb, where joule is a unit of energy and coulomb is a unit of electric force. This means that a certain location within an electric field would have an electric potential of 12 joules per coulomb and from this the specific electric potential energy can be determined. A one coulomb charge would have 12 joules of energy and a two coulomb charge would have 24.
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