And here is one more last question please I need some help. It is about electric potential energy and how it is similar to gravitational potential energy. Thanks!?!
1 Answer
Dec 23, 2017
Similarities: Both gravitational force and electrostatic force are conservative forces. They are both central forces governed by inverse-square law. So the potential energy of the interaction will be inversely proportional to the distance of separation between the interacting points.
Difference: The difference lies in the fact that, gravitational interaction is always attractive whereas the electrostatic interaction can be either attractive or repulsive depending on the sign of the charges that are interacting.
For attractive interactions, the potential energy increases with increasing distance of separation. For repulsive interaction the potential energy decreases with increasing distance of separation.
