---
title: "An electric field in a region of space is directed parallel to the \\(x\\)-axis. The graph shows the \\(x\\)-component of the electric field, \\(E_x\\), as a function of position \\(x\\). An alpha particle moves along the \\(x\\)-axis from \\(x = 0\\) to \\(x = 4.0\\text{ m}\\). What is the change in the electric potential energy of the alpha-particle-field system as the particle moves between these two positions?"
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url: "https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/124624/"
date_modified: "2026-09-28T14:08:53+00:00"
---

# An electric field in a region of space is directed parallel to the \(x\)-axis. The graph shows the \(x\)-component of the electric field, \(E_x\), as a function of position \(x\). An alpha particle moves along the \(x\)-axis from \(x = 0\) to \(x = 4.0\text{ m}\). What is the change in the electric potential energy of the alpha-particle-field system as the particle moves between these two positions?

An electric field in a region of space is directed parallel to the \(x\)-axis. The graph shows the \(x\)-component of the electric field, \(E_x\), as a function of position \(x\). An alpha particle moves along the \(x\)-axis from \(x = 0\) to \(x = 4.0\text{ m}\). What is the change in the electric potential energy of the alpha-particle-field system as the particle moves between these two positions?

![A quantitative Cartesian coordinate graph plotted on a light-gray grid. The horizontal axis is labeled \(x\text{ (m)}\) with major ticks and numerical labels at integers from \(0\) to \(4\). The vertical axis is labeled \(E_x\text{ (V/m)}\) with major ticks and numerical labels at \(-200\), \(-100\), \(0\), \(100\), \(200\), and \(300\). A single continuous solid black piecewise line is plotted across the domain. The line begins at \((0, 200)\), extends horizontally to \((2, 200)\), proceeds downward with a constant negative slope through \((3, 0)\), and continues downward with a shallower negative slope to terminate at \((4, -100)\). A horizontal axis line at \(E_x = 0\) clearly separates positive and negative regions of the grid. No other labels, lines, text, or axes appear.](https://nerd-notes.com/wp-content/uploads/ubq-frq-generated/stem-fig-1-1790604532-ApR9ZE.jpg)

- **A.** \(-1.8 \times 10^{-16}\text{ J}\)
- **B.** \(-1.4 \times 10^{-16}\text{ J}\)
- **C.** \(-7.2 \times 10^{-17}\text{ J}\)
- **D.** \(+1.4 \times 10^{-16}\text{ J}\)

*The answer key and step-by-step explanation are available to logged-in users at https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/124624/*