- #36
Dadface
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Yes there is a potential with respect to other charged objects particles etc.The evidence seems to show that the electric force spreads to infinity being inversely proportional to separation squared.
barton said:There is. I was more curious about how voltage drops occur in the confines of an electric circuit. As long as you have the presence of nearby charges, the presence of nearby time-varying magnetic fields, or the presence of nearby moving magnetic fields, you will have electric fields set up in your region of space. Depending on what you choose as your reference point (0V), and the shape and strength of the resulting electric fields, you will be able to measure differences in potential at various points in space.
vanesch said:You've discovered a super hoax actually, but keep it quiet because there's a whole big industry living off its spread. You don't need two outlets on a power outlet, that's just to increase its price. One single outlet is quite sufficient, as long as you do a rain dance when you switch on your appliance of choice.
BTW, yes, I'm making (gently) some fun of your statements
Denton said:No youre right, there is no reason to have all these excess cables for AC when one power cable suffices. The other end is simply connected to Earth to complete the loop.
Red_CCF said:I have a follow up question on this topic. When you have trillions of electrons flowing through the same circuit, does each electron interfere with the force of the voltage that is used to push them? Like would the electrons in the middle of the circuit feel less force than electrons close to the ends?
If so if this significant or is the difference negligible. Thanks
Xezlec said:You asked about how much force electrons feel in different places. I'll answer that, but I'm not sure that's what you meant to ask. Force is the gradient of potential energy, which just means that the force felt by the electrons at any given point is just how fast the voltage is changing (as a function of position) at that point. Going back to the water analogy, this is the same as saying the force felt by the water at a point in the pipe is proportional to how fast the water pressure is dropping off at that point.
Red_CCF said:Yea I meant to ask about the force that electrons feel at different places on a circuit.
I didn't really understand what you meant when you said that force is a gradient of potential energy.
I'm just wondering whether force of the voltage that pushes the electrons through are changing (even if it's really small) as the electrons moves away from the terminals on a voltage source.
Xezlec said:My problem is that I feel like I answered that question completely, so I'm not sure why you're still wondering that. I'll say it again: the force an electron feels is proportional to the resistance of the path at that point, so the force changes wherever the resistance changes and the force stays the same wherever the resistance stays the same. I still feel like there has to be some part of your question I don't understand.