while going through capacitors, what exactly does the term potential of a plate mean? does potential of a plate mean potential "at any point" on the plate, i.e the work done in bringing a unit positive test charge from infinity to that point?
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2$\begingroup$ Be careful: there are two ways to talk of the potential of a plate. Formally, yes, it's derived by setting $V(\infty)=0$, but more often when people talk about the potential of a plate they mean the difference in electric potential between the two plates. That difference relates to the energy to move a charge from one plate to another (and thus to the energy stored by the fields). $\endgroup$– Jonathan StottCommented Jul 18, 2018 at 17:34
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2 Answers
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Since the plates of a standard capacitor are conductive, they will have the same potential over their entire surface. So yes, the potential is referenced to infinity.
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Electric potential at a point is defined as work done in bringing a unit positive charge from infinity to that point keeping electrostatic constant.
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$\begingroup$ This doesn't make a reference to doubt about whether we consider any point on the plate or something else. $\endgroup$– user191954Commented Jul 18, 2018 at 16:07