if an electron moved from 0V to 10V potential, would its potential energy increase or decrease?

Question

If an electron moved from 0V potential to 10V potential, would its potential energy increase or decrease? If a proton moved from 0V potential to 10V potential, would its potential energy increase or decrease? Please give an explaination of why.

Answer 1

I'm assuming by "10V" you mean "+10V", because going from 0V to -10V is of course the opposite.

Since an electron has a negative charge, its natural tendency is to move towards a positive charge so it would lose potential energy, specifically 10 eV, which would be available to do work. A proton would need to have 10 eV of work done to it to overcome the electromotive force, so it would gain potential energy.

Answer 2

In both cases the potential energy would change since it requires work (force applied through a distance) to move the charge through the electric field. However..... The change may be positive or negative, depending on the sign of the charge and which way it is being moved throough the field.

HTH

Doug