Voltage & Batteries: Separating the Charges

[vg19]

Hi, I just would like to make sure that my concepts are clear on voltage. Using a battery as an example, I have a couple of questions...The battery separates the positive charges from the negative charges, which in result causes a separation (voltage). Now, if the battery is connected to a load, the negative charge travels through the wire to the positive terminal, and opposite for the positive charge. Why and how is this voltage or emf moving the charges through the wire to the other termininal?

 

[chroot]

Electrical potential acts just like gravitational potential. You're familiar with the fact that a ball will roll down a hill, of course -- it's really the same concept for electric phenomena.

A battery creates a difference in electrical potential -- in the same way that a ramp "creates" a difference in gravitational potential -- and electrons "roll down the hill" caused by this difference.

In more specific terminology, the difference in potential at either end of a wire creates an electric field inside the wire, and this electric field causes electrons to move.

Please note that in normal wires, the positive charges are fixed. No positive charges move through the wires. Positive charges (in the form of ions) do indeed move inside the battery, through the electrolyte, but they don't move through the wire.

- Warren

 

[kyle8921]

Hello,

Your understanding of voltage is correct. Voltage, also referred to as electromotive force (emf), is the measure of the potential energy difference between two points in an electrical circuit. In the case of a battery, the voltage is created by the separation of positive and negative charges within the battery.

When a battery is connected to a load, the voltage creates an electric field that pushes the negative charges (electrons) through the wire towards the positive terminal of the battery. This movement of electrons is what we refer to as an electrical current.

The voltage or emf is essentially the driving force that moves the charges through the wire. It is similar to how gravity pulls an object towards the ground. In this analogy, the battery is like a hill and the charges are like a ball rolling down the hill.

I hope this helps to clarify the concept of voltage for you. Let me know if you have any further questions.