What happens to the electric potential energy of a system of charges when they are brought closer together?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
What happens to the electric potential energy of a system of charges when they are brought closer together?
Increases
Decreases
Remains constant
Becomes zero
The electric potential energy of a system of charges decreases when they are brought closer together, especially if they are of opposite signs.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
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Q
Q: What happens to the electric potential energy of a system of charges when they are brought closer together?
Solution: The electric potential energy of a system of charges decreases when they are brought closer together, especially if they are of opposite signs.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand what electric potential energy is. It is the energy stored in a system of charges due to their positions relative to each other.
Step 2: Recognize that charges can be positive or negative. Opposite charges attract each other, while like charges repel each other.
Step 3: When opposite charges (like + and -) are brought closer together, they attract each other, which causes the electric potential energy to decrease.
Step 4: When like charges (like + and + or - and -) are brought closer together, they repel each other, which causes the electric potential energy to increase.
Step 5: In general, if opposite charges are brought closer, the system's electric potential energy decreases.
