Electric Potential (Point Charges) Calculator

Inspectable records

Ledger state

The current ledger marks this instrument verified clean within the source-bound verification corpus.

Area

Physics — Kinematics/Projectiles/Orbits, Forces/Energy/Momentum, Rotational Dynamics, Gravitation, Oscillations/Waves, Optics, E&M Fields, Relativity, Quantum, Statistical Thermo

Tranche

tranche-5

Evidence ID

t5-180

Ledger rows

1

No ledger note is attached.

Review findings

The pair formulas are standard under the stated SI, vacuum, point-charge, and infinite-reference assumptions. The catalog claim is ambiguous because it says potential due to point charges plural while listing only the single-charge expression, and it does not specify how multiple-charge inputs are represented or whether U is for one pair or a complete charge system.

Formula and scope findings

• V=kq/r is correct for the potential from one point charge, but the stated capability covers multiple point charges and requires V_total=Σ(kq_i/r_i). The spec does not define whether V means a single-source potential or the summed potential.
• U=kq1q2/r is the standard electrostatic potential energy for one pair of point charges, but total potential energy for multiple charges requires summing kq_iq_j/r_ij over all distinct pairs.
• The formulas assume a homogeneous vacuum or that k already includes the medium's permittivity; the medium is not specified.

Unit assumptions

• Use SI units: charge in coulombs, distance in meters, potential in volts, and energy in joules.
• For vacuum, use k=8.99×10^9 N·m²/C². In a material medium, k must be replaced by 1/(4πε) or an explicitly supplied equivalent.
• Charges are signed quantities; positive and negative signs determine the sign of V and U.
• Potential is referenced to zero at infinite distance.
• For U, r is the separation between the two charges, not each charge's distance from an observation point.

Boundary hardening

BREAK_CLAIMED · SELF_FLAGGED

The formula has an undefined zero-distance case, so the instrument must reject r=0 rather than perform plain division. The specification also leaves distance-sign conventions unstated and has no actual piecewise formula branch.

Errata and corrections

No applied erratum is attached to this unique-name record.

Inspectable example

4 review vectors are recorded. One source-bound sample is shown below.

{
  "inputs": {
    "k_N_m2_per_C2": 8990000000,
    "q_C": 0.000002,
    "r_m": 0.3,
    "q1_C": 0.000002,
    "q2_C": -0.000003,
    "pair_distance_m": 0.5
  },
  "expected_outputs": {
    "V_V": 59933.333333333336,
    "U_J": -0.10788
  },
  "working": "V=(8.99×10^9)(2×10^-6)/0.30=(17980)/0.30=59933.333333333336 V. U=(8.99×10^9)(2×10^-6)(-3×10^-6)/0.50=(8.99×10^9)(-6×10^-12)/0.50=(-0.05394)/0.50=-0.10788 J."
}

Related workflows

No source-defined multi-instrument workflow membership is recorded.

Sources and evidence

These pointers bind the page to evidence. They do not grant authority or collapse verification into deployment.

• VERIFIED_LEDGER.json · VERIFIED_CLEAN
• evidence-tranche5/tranche5-results.json
• BOUNDARY_HAZARD_CATALOG.json