Scalar potential

Imagine you have a toy airplane and you want to make it go up into the air. You can do this by holding it in your hand and throwing it upwards. But what if you want the plane to stay in the air without you throwing it every time? This is where the concept of scalar potential comes in.

Scalar potential is like a magical force field that can make things move without any physical force being applied. This force field is created by something called a scalar function. A scalar function is like a secret code that tells the force field how to act.

Let's use the example of the toy airplane again. If you wanted to create a scalar potential to make the airplane stay in the air, you would need to come up with a scalar function that tells the force field to push the airplane upwards. This scalar function could be something like the distance between the airplane and the ground. The closer the plane is to the ground, the stronger the force field will be, and the higher the plane will go.

Now imagine that you have a whole bunch of toy airplanes flying around in the air. You can create a different scalar function for each airplane, which will create a unique force field for each one. This means that each airplane can move independently, without being affected by the other airplanes.

In summary, scalar potential is a magical force field that can make things move without any physical force being applied. It's created by a scalar function, which is like a secret code that tells the force field how to act. By using different scalar functions, you can create unique force fields for different objects, allowing them to move independently of each other.