Question
Show that units of V/m and N/C for electric field strength are indeed equivalent.

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Solution Video

# OpenStax College Physics Solution, Chapter 19, Problem 13 (Problems & Exercises) (1:07)

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Video Transcript
This is College Physics Answers with Shaun Dychko. We are going to show the units of volt per meter is the same as newton per coulomb and wither one could be used for electric field strength, although newton per coulomb is more common. So, volts per meter can be written as joule per column per meter because a volt is a joule per coulomb and we can move this coulomb from here down to here and we do that by multiplying top and bottom by coulombs and so these coulombs cancel there and we are left with coulomb multiplied by meter in the bottom and joule, remember that, Joule’s unit of work and that work is force time distance. So, newton times meter is what we can substitute in place of joule and we see that meters her cancel, leaving us with units of newton per coulomb and there we go. We have shown that joules… We have shown that volt per meter is the same as newton per coulomb.