A2L Item 216
- Description: Indicate the truth or falsity of a statement regarding the relationship between the electric field and potential at a point.
- Goal: Hone the relationship between E and V
- Source: 283-475 Must V=0 if E=0?
- Keywords: Electric Field, Electromagnetism, Potentials
The question for students:
True or false: it is possible to have the electric field be 0 at some point in space and the electric potential be non-zero at that same point.
- True
- False
Commentary for teachers:
Answer
(1) Whichever answer students give, ask them to draw a charge configuration which satisfies their answer. Often this is sufficient to cause them to change their mind. If appropriate raise for discussion the case of the interior of a uniformly charged spherical shell.