Voltage Definition and 315 Discussions

Voltage, electric potential difference, electromotive force (emf), electric pressure or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points, which (in a static electric field) is defined as the work needed per unit of charge to move a test charge between the two points. In the International System of Units, the derived unit for voltage (potential difference) is named volt. In SI units, work per unit charge is expressed as joules per coulomb, where 1 volt = 1 joule (of work) per 1 coulomb (of charge). The old SI definition for volt used power and current; starting in 1990, the quantum Hall and Josephson effect were used, and recently (2019) fundamental physical constants have been introduced for the definition of all SI units and derived units. Voltage or electric potential difference is denoted symbolically by ∆V, simplified V, or U, for instance in the context of Ohm's or Kirchhoff's circuit laws.
Electric potential differences between points can be caused physically by electric charge build up or imbalance (eg. well known "static" and electronic capacitor) also by electric current through a magnetic field, and by time-varying magnetic fields (eg. dynamo or generator), or some combination of these three. Additionally on a macroscopic scale potential difference can be caused by electrochemical processes (cells and batteries) and pressure induced piezoelectric effect and heat induced emf across metal junctions. These latter processes at microscopic level have the physical origins previously mentioned. A voltmeter can be used to measure the voltage (or potential difference) between two points in a system; often a common reference potential such as the ground of the system is used as one of the points. A voltage may represent either a source of energy (electromotive force) or lost, used, or stored energy (potential drop).

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  1. C

    Why do we have a charge in the denominator of equation for voltage?

    Why do we have a charge in the denominator of equations for voltage and el. potential if both voltage and el. potential are not dependent on charge? Is it just because that was the only way to derive the formula for voltage and then we realized we don't need q? U=W/q --> U=eqd/q.
  2. kma

    I What happens to resistance of tap water as voltage is increased?

    1 In recent days I have done a few experiments measuring the current of water as it goes up from 9 volts up to 36 volts, and following Ohms law to convert it to resistance. And I discovered a very interesting trend. In between 9 and 18 volts, there is a massive drop in resistance (by around a...
    • kma
    • Thread
    • Electricity Electrochemistry Resistance Voltage
    • Replies: 22
    • Forum: Classical Physics
  3. A

    I History behind Ohm's law

    Voltage SI unit = Volts Current SI unit = Ampere Resistance SI unit = Ohm Ohm's law : V=IR Did Georg Ohm (German), Ampere (French) & Volta (Italian) collaborated when Ohm came out with this electricity equation with units for voltage, current & resistance as per their surnames? Credit goes to...
  4. S

    Minimizing the voltage drop across a capacitor (solution shown)

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  5. simphysics

    Single Loop Potential difference -- sign issue

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  6. Mr su

    Can this comparator accept negative voltage as its negative supply?

    I check the datasheet of LM 319 high speed comparator online. I was wondering if LM 319 can accept negative supply voltage(-10V) and its possible to produce a 10V to -10V square wave which oscillates along origin rather than just 10V to 0v as shown below.
  7. E

    Simple conceptual question about Ohm's law

    Hİ :) as you know potential difference in point A to B is equal to the battery's voltage and point A's current is equal to point B's current.So current is I=Q/t , there should be equal charge passing through at same time so how could there be potential difference when there is equal amount of...
  8. M3D1

    B To confirm if I am correct about the role of voltage in a circuit

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  9. Dario56

    I Energy Flow From Battery to the Light Bulb

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    • circuits electric field electromagnetism poynting vector voltage
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    • Forum: Classical Physics
  10. L

    What factors determine wattage of electrons flowing through a wire?

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  11. nazmulhasanshipon

    Comparing energy lost by the battery & energy gained by the capacitor.

    Imagine the two terminal of a *parallel-plate capacitor* are connected to the two terminal of a battery with electric potential difference #V#. If the capacitance of the capacitor is #C#, and the area of each plate is $A$. In this process would the energy lost by the battery and the stored...
  12. oscarrod5

    What exactly is the potential difference between phases in 3 phase power distribution?

    I understand phase voltage (phase to neutral) well, but I'm still confused by what exactly the potential difference is between any 2 phases in 3 phase power. If you were to try to find the potential difference where 2 sine wave phases cross, then at that instantaneous point, the potential...
  13. E

    Question about equipotential lines and the work done moving along them

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  14. K

    Relationship between closing a switch and the total battery current

  15. QuentinChe

    Voltage detection in electrical cables

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  16. amizy9990

    2 * 10 ^ 20 charges move in a wire when we connect a 3.7 V battery. Ho

    W=Q*V 2*10^20 Q * 3,7 V= 7,4*10^20 ??
  17. amizy9990

    A copper wire contains 3.0 *10 ^ 22 number of charges on 1 meter wire

    A copper wire contains 3.0 *10 ^ 22 number of charges on 1 meter wire. What speed do the electrons move when there is 2 A current in the wire. t=q/t=3,20*10^3 C/ 2.0 A = 1,5*10^22 s v= 1m/1,5*10^3s= 6,6*10^-4 m/s
  18. M

    I Checking for negative feedback in a circuit

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    • Milotic
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    • amplifier circuit analysis inverting op amp op-amp voltage
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    • Forum: Classical Physics
  19. M

    Some questions about capacitor discharging

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  20. Helena Wells

    Constant current sources

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  21. J

    Circuit problem -- Find the equivalent resistance of this series/parallel resistor circuit

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  22. B

    Electric Potential inside an insulating sphere

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  23. D

    Voltage using different references

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  24. Adesh

    Capacitors connected in series: Why is the voltage the same?

    Here is a circuit diagram: . We have three capacitors, with capacitances ##C_1##, ##C_2## and ##C_3##. Plates are labelled as ##A_1, A_2, A_3 ... A_6##. Point P is connected to the positive terminal of the battery and point N is connected to the negative terminal of the...
  25. G

    Questions on Capacitors again

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  26. G

    A confusing question on capacitors and voltages across them

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  27. CrosisBH

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  28. L

    Understanding the concept of voltage

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  29. J

    Engineering A circuit with non-linear devices

    I honestly don't know how to quite even begin this problem. Looking at Fig 3-2, the slopes of the graphs are 1/R, and hence where the slopes are 0, we have infinite resistance, in which case current wouldn't flow through that resistor and hence simplify the circuit. So I was trying to find...
  30. J

    Engineering Finding voltages in a linear circuit

    From the circuit I have: ##-v_b + v_a + V = 0## ##v_b - V = v_a## ##i_1 = (v_b - V)/R_1## ##I + i_2 = i_1## ##(v_b - V)/R_1 = I + v_b/R_2## From this last equation I get ##v_b = 10.8## and hence ##v_a = 5.8##. However, apparently that is wrong. (And hence my answers to #2 were all wrong as...
  31. J

    Finding the missing current and voltage in a circuit with superposition

    I don't get this. Since we have analyzed the circuit separately for each source, adding them should give me the final values of I1, V2, I2, V1 etc. However, that's not quite true—from cases 1 and 2, I should have I1 = 4 + 5 = 9 mA, but it's 8mA. Hence, I thought that the black box consumes 1mA...
  32. J

    Engineering Finding the Thevenin equivalent Resistance for circuit with voltage dependent sources

    I am having a hard time solving this. Letting \$i\$ be the current flowing into ##R_3##, ##i_1## the current flowing through ##R_1## and ##i_2## the current through ##R_1##—and the node between R3 and R1 be e_1; Using KVL and KCL, I've managed to find that ##i + I = i_1 + i_2## Hence...
  33. J

    Thevenin isolates nonlinear element

    I have no problem getting the ##R_{TH}## since from the special element's POV, the resistors are in parallel, and that's the answer. However, I don't really understand how to get ##V_{TH}##. Ignoring the special element, it seems that I have the resistors in series this time. But I'm not too...
  34. J

    A Circuit with Nonlinear Element—finding element's current & voltage

    I don't really understand or see the correct way to approach this. Letting the current in question be ##i_x## (as shown in Fig. 1), and the unknown (changing) resistance be $R_x$, I can write: ##-V_s + R_s i_s + i_x R_x = 0##, and ##R_p i_p = i_x R_x##. Hence we can also write ##-V_s + R_s i_s...
  35. C

    Electrical current question

    I assume that because there is a resistance, the polarity of the voltage must be the same as the charge flow, and thus the current, in order for energy to flow in the same direction. For instance, could I use the example of a light bulb (the resistor) plugged into AC lines; we know that if the...
  36. D

    Voltage and current as functions of time for a series RL circuit

    I already found ##I(t)## using Kirchhoff's laws, I got the equation ##V-RI-L\frac{dI}{dt}=0\Rightarrow L\frac{dI}{dt}=V-RI## then I solved the differential equation getting ##I(t)=\frac{V}{R}\left[1-e^{-\frac{R}{L}t}\right]##. My problem is founding the voltage as a function of time ##V(t)##, I...
  37. L

    Determine the effective current value in the circuit with C and R

    Given: U = 220 V f = 50 Hz r = 20 Ohm C = 100 μF Find: I Solution: 1) Xc = 1/(ω*C) = 1/(2*π*f*C) = 1/(2*π*50*10^-4) = 31.83 Ohm 2) R_eq - equivalent resistance R_eq = (r*Xc)/(r+Xc) = (20*31.83)/(20+31.83) = 12.28 Ohm 3) I = U/R_eq = 220/12.28 = 17.9 A True answer given in the textbook is 13 A...
  38. Guidestone

    Request for historical background on the concept of voltage

    Hi all. I'll get to the point. I've been interested in electricity since I was in college. Concepts such as current and resistance seemed easy to grasp for me but voltage remains a little bit obscure. It's thanks to this forum (specially forum members Jim Hardy r.i.p and SophieCentaur, sorry if...
  39. sergiokapone

    Potentials (and ##\Delta\phi##) of nearby converging bodies

    Let ##Q## - charge of one of conductor, ##\phi_1## --- potential of charged conductor, ##\phi_2## --- potential of uncharged conductor. For the charged conductor: \begin{equation} \phi_1 = D_{11}Q , \end{equation} for uncharged conductor: \begin{equation} \phi_2 = D_{21}Q \end{equation}
  40. M

    PNP transistor and Voltage

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  41. EEristavi

    Why a DC power supply doesn't have a voltage with respect to ground?

    I see that DC power supply have voltage between it's + & - and its 24V. However, there is no voltage with ground. I don't understand - if device's "point" has some potential, why doesn't it give some voltage with ground (which has ~0 potential) I tried this with phoenix contact...
  42. T

    Why can an electron go through PVC insulator

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  43. N

    Electrical High voltage DC 30kv - 40kv

    Hi all Trying to carry out an experiment and need a high voltage supply Looking for say upto 40kv dc adjustable generator been looking on the net and only able to find low cost voltage boosters on eBay Or if anyone know of a good website to try Any help would be much apreciated Thanks...Niki
    • Niki
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    • dc generator hvdc voltage
    • Replies: 7
    • Forum: DIY Projects
  44. F

    Engineering Help me finding the current in here please (Circuit analysis)

    Hi! I've been struggling with this. Original exercise here: Find the value of Iy when R=0. And the value of Vx when R is infinite. For the first part of the question I did this since R=0: I've tried to solve this circuit and I get that Iy and I5 are 0 A, and this can't be possible since Iy...
  45. P

    Finding the current and voltage for each resistor

    Homework Statement Moderators note: link removed. All images should be uploaded to PhysicsForums. Homework Equations V=IR Series in parallel Series in current The Attempt at a Solution I managed to get the current and voltage of R1 and R2. I've been trying to get the next one R3, but...
  46. N

    Deriving Voltage from the Inductor Equation

    Homework Statement L = 20mH = 20 x 10-3 H i = 40 mA for t≤0 i = A1e-10,000t + A2e-40,000t A for t≥0 The voltage at t=0 is 28 V. I have to find the equation for the voltage for t>0. Then I have to find the time when power is zero. Homework Equations v(t) = L* di/dt p(t) = L*i* di/dt The...
  47. K

    B How a Secondary Resistor affects the Transformer Primary Side?

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  48. G

    How to treat the "ideal" plate capacitor more rigorously?

    Hi. The derivation of the capacity of an ideal parallel-plate capacitor is inconsistent: On the one hand, the plates are assumed to be infinitely large to exploit symmetries to compute an expression for the electric field, on the other the area is finite to get a finite expression for the...
  49. H

    Electric arc: How to calculate the required voltage for a light bow?

    <Moderator's note: Moved from a homework forum.> Calculate the required voltage to produce a electric arc between 2 iron nails (distance: 3cm). I´ve read in the internet that you need 1 kV per mm. But how can I calculate this value, that I need 1kV per 1mm?
    • Hans42
    • Thread
    • arc electrical engineering electricity phyiscs voltage
    • Replies: 1
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  50. E

    Puzzled by how the Voltage is the same across different points

    If this is better for the HW section please tell me, sorry about that. So Voltage is the change in potential. I'm puzzled by how potential in circuits is the same along different points until we reach a resistor - at which point the potential changes. As in, if we take two points before a...
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