Electric Potential

Electric potential is the electric charge between two points in a circuit.  Electric potential is seen in our every day life in things like metal door handles or door knobs.  The reason I say this is because a door handle contains a lot of electricity and is charged.  Therefore when someone touches it, the charges are transferred and the person feels a small shock.

 In the picture above, this individual could have been shocked due to the electric potential that is stored inside of the door handle.  The charge in this particular system is present between the door handle and the person.

Electrostatic

     This week we learned about electrostatics.  Some of the things we learned was that opposite or unlike charges attract and like charges repel from each other.  This is important to remember because it can sometimes help us find how many charges are present within a given system.  Another thing we learned was that conductors are materials that allow electric charges to travel freely.  We see conductors a lot in our daily lives.  One of those places is in our own very house.  When we look behind our TV we see a series of wire.  Those wires carry electric current to the TV from the wall and allow the TV to work.

     The wires are the conductors for the TV.  Surrounding those conductors are insulators.  Insulators prevent electric current from flowing.  Those insulators are protecting us from electric shock.