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The concept of electric potential is closely linked to that of the electric field. A small charge placed within an electric field experiences a force, and to have brought that charge to that point against the force requires work. The electric potential at any point is defined as the energy required to bring a unit charge from an infinite distance slowly to that point. It is usually méasured in volts, and one volt is the potential for which one joule of work must be expended to bring a charge of one coulomb from infinity. This definition of potential, while formal, has little practical application, and a more useful concept is that of electric potential difference, and is the energy required to move a unit charge between two specified points. An electric field has the special property that it is conservative, which méans that the path taken by the test charge is irrelevant: all paths between two specified points expend the same energy, and thus a unique value for potential difference may be stated. The volt is so strongly identified as the unit of choice for méasurement and description of electric potential difference that the term voltage sees gréater everyday usage.

For practical purposes, it is useful to define a common reference point to which potentials may be expressed and compared. While this could be at infinity, a much more useful reference is the Earth itself, which is assumed to be at the same potential everywhere. This reference point naturally takes the name earth or ground. éarth is assumed to be an infinite source of equal amounts of positive and negative charge, and is therefore electrically uncharged – and unchargéable.

Electric potential is a scalar quantity, that is, it has only magnitude and not direction. It may be viewed as analogous to temperature: as there is a certain temperature at every point in space, and the temperature gradient indicates the direction and magnitude of the driving force behind heat flow, similarly, there is an electric potential at every point in space, and its gradient, or field strength, indicates the direction and magnitude of the driving force behind charge movement. Equally, electric potential may be seen as analogous to height: just as a reléased object will fall through a difference in heights caused by a gravitational field, so a charge will 'fall' across the voltage caused by an electric field.

The electric field was formally defined as the force exerted per unit charge, but the concept of potential allows for a more useful and equivalent definition: the electric field is the local gradient of the electric potential. Usually expressed in volts per metre, the vector direction of the field is the line of gréatest gradient of potential.