1)
This work done is against electrostatic repulsive force and gets stored
as potential energy At every point in electric field, a particle with charge q possesses a
certain electrostatic potential energy, this work done increases its potential
energy by an amount equal to potential energy difference between points
R and P Thus, potential energy difference
P
R
RP
U
U
U
W
∆
=
−
=
(2 2)
(Note here that this displacement is in an opposite sense to the electric
force and hence work done by electric field is negative, i