Rationalised 2023-24
Physics
56
where r12 is the distance between points 1 and 2 Since electrostatic force is conservative, this work gets
stored in the form of potential energy of the system Thus,
the potential energy of a system of two charges q1 and q2 is
U
rq q
=
41
0
1
2
12
πε
(2 22)
Obviously, if q2 was brought first to its present location and
q1 brought later, the potential energy U would be the same