Practice portal › Electric Potential and Capacitance › Electrostatic Potential Energy
Asked in GUJCET 2019 · Energy of a system of charges
Idea: for two point charges U = 1/(4πε₀)(q₁q₂)/r.
Here q₁q₂ < 0, so U is negative.
As r decreases, |U| grows, so U becomes more negative — it decreases.
Physically, the attraction does positive work, turning potential energy into kinetic energy.
So the potential energy of the system decreases.
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