User:Phancy Physicist/potential (physics)

A potential in physics is a mathematical description that can be used to find the resulting force from a physical interaction. A potential does not necessarily have to represent any fundamental interactions and can be used to describe the resulting behavior of many individual interactions working together.

Potential Types
There are two types of potential: scalar potentials and vector potentials.

Scalar Potentials
Scalar Potentials are scalar fields that represent a quantity at a point in space due to a particular interaction.
 * $$ \mathbf{F} = -\nabla U = - \left(\frac{\partial U}{\partial x},\frac{\partial U}{\partial y},\frac{\partial U}{\partial z}\right) $$,

where F is the resulting force and U is the potential energy.

Vector Potentials
Vector Potentials are vector fields.
 * $$\mathbf{F} = \nabla \times \mathbf{A}. $$

Examples

 * Coulomb potential
 * van der Waals potential
 * Lennard-Jones potential
 * Morse potential
 * Yukawa potential
 * Tersoff potential