- #1
Jimmy87
- 686
- 17
Hi, please could someone guide me to a correct definition of voltage. I have looked through previous posts and there seems to be conflicting definitions. My school book and some posts on the forum say voltage "pushes" the current. However, I can't see how this could possibly be true for the following reasons:
1)Voltage is just telling you the energy change for a charge between two points it isn't a physical thing so how can it push charge? If you say that voltage pushes charge this would be like saying that gravitational potential energy pushes mass which it doesn't, the gravitational field pushes mass.
2) I think I'm right in saying that electric fields exert forces on charges so if you have a p.d. across a circuit then an electric field will materialize within the wire and it is this field that "pushes" the charges. Is that right?
Other posts support what I think but as I initially stated some say that the voltage pushes charge. Please could someone clarify. Many thanks.
1)Voltage is just telling you the energy change for a charge between two points it isn't a physical thing so how can it push charge? If you say that voltage pushes charge this would be like saying that gravitational potential energy pushes mass which it doesn't, the gravitational field pushes mass.
2) I think I'm right in saying that electric fields exert forces on charges so if you have a p.d. across a circuit then an electric field will materialize within the wire and it is this field that "pushes" the charges. Is that right?
Other posts support what I think but as I initially stated some say that the voltage pushes charge. Please could someone clarify. Many thanks.