Can Zero Electric Potential Prove No Current Flow in a Connected Wire?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the principle that no current flows in a wire connecting two points of equal electric potential. Participants explain that a potential difference is necessary for current flow, akin to water needing a slope to flow. They emphasize that if two wires are at the same potential, no charge movement occurs, violating Kirchhoff's current law. The conversation clarifies that while resistors may carry different currents, without a potential difference, no current will flow through an additional wire connecting them.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of electric potential and potential difference
  • Familiarity with Kirchhoff's current law
  • Basic knowledge of resistors and their behavior in circuits
  • Concept of current flow and charge movement in electrical circuits
NEXT STEPS
  • Study the principles of electric potential and how it relates to current flow
  • Explore Kirchhoff's laws in detail, focusing on current and voltage relationships
  • Learn about the behavior of resistors in series and parallel circuits
  • Investigate the concept of charge neutrality and its implications in electrical circuits
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Electrical engineers, physics students, and anyone interested in understanding the fundamentals of electric circuits and current flow principles.

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how can I prove that no current would flow in a wire connected between two wires of equal potential. For an example a resistor of 2 ohms carrying a current of 3 Amp and a resistor of 3 ohms carrying a current of 2 Amp, and a wire "A" is connected between them. Obviously, the potential difference between the two wires is 6-6=0 but what is the explanation for the fact that no current will flow in Wire "A" I know that only as a fact but I can find an obvious clear explanation.
 
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Kirchoff's current law is violated
 
Hey also, ypu are talking about potential difference and not potential.
 
sharan swarup said:
Kirchoff's current law is violated
Please could you explain it in detail
 
if you connect something , like a wire between two points, wires whatever which both have the same potential then no current flows because they both are at the same level of voltage.

Just like water needs a slope or a decrease in height above sea level to flow.If you would have just a perfectly flat piece of land no rivers could flow.
 
Crazymechanic said:
if you connect something , like a wire between two points, wires whatever which both have the same potential then no current flows because they both are at the same level of voltage.
Just like water needs a slope or a decrease in height above sea level to flow.If you would have just a perfectly flat piece of land no rivers could flow.
Can you explain what is meant by the game the same potential ?
 
Have **
 
well a potential forms when there is some excess of charge (like positive or negative) if both are the same then there is no potential the material or whatever we say is neutral.
So if you have more positive charge on one side of the battery and more negative on the other or just ground in other cases ,then we say we have a potential difference and that can do work because the charges which are more at one point want to flow to the other point to equal out , while they flow , we say energy is being transferred and work can be done using that energy.

voltage or volts is just a measurement unit in which we measure the potential difference.
 
Crazymechanic said:
well a potential forms when there is some excess of charge (like positive or negative) if both are the same then there is no potential the material or whatever we say is neutral.
So if you have more positive charge on one side of the battery and more negative on the other or just ground in other cases ,then we say we have a potential difference and that can do work because the charges which are more at one point want to flow to the other point to equal out , while they flow , we say energy is being transferred and work can be done using that energy.

voltage or volts is just a measurement unit in which we measure the potential difference.

I got the part that electrons flow from high charge to low one
But a wire of resistance 3 ohms carrying a current of intensity 2 Amperes connected to another wire of resistance 2 ohms carrying a current of 3 amperes No current will flow between them although their intensities are different and quantity of electricity is different so there should be tendency for electrons to flow from high charge to low charge
 
  • #10
well there is no high charge or low charge , charge is charge , there is more charge per given area or less charge per given are or no charge at all which means that the material is neutral it has an equal number of + and - charges in it.

about the resistors you mentioned remember that current or amperage is just another word like volts and voltage.the word itself means nothing you have to understand the meaning behind the word.

amperage or amps is the measure of how much charge flows in a given place at a given amount of time (1 second)
so you take a place in a wire and place an ampmeter in series with that wire , now close whatever circit you have there and see how many amps flows (charge flow) through that wire.
BUT if you have two wires and both wires are at the same potential ! this is the important part , then no current flows , yes it is correct that a resistor with less resistance will have a higher current , that is correct but a resistor can only have a current through it if it is either in a circuit (part of a circuit) or if it is in series with a wire which has a potential difference across it , like putting that resistor across the battery terminals you were talking earlier.
if there is no circuit and no potential difference no amps( charge) will flow through the resistor so you can connect it as you wish nothing will happen.
 
  • #11
ImageUploadedByPhysics Forums1388252236.587838.jpg
I mean that the amount of charge at A is more that at B, Although no current will flow through R?
 
  • #12
ElmorshedyDr said:
I got the part that electrons flow from high charge to low one
But a wire of resistance 3 ohms carrying a current of intensity 2 Amperes connected to another wire of resistance 2 ohms carrying a current of 3 amperes No current will flow between them although their intensities are different and quantity of electricity is different so there should be tendency for electrons to flow from high charge to low charge
This is not a clear description of a circuit, and without additional information about the circuit it is impossible to tell if there will be a current flow.
If you connect two resistors in parallel, then different currents can flow through them. That should not be surprising.

Edit: I wrote my post before I saw your last post.
ElmorshedyDr said:
I mean that the amount of charge at A is more that at B, Although no current will flow through R?
A and B cannot be open ends, the current will flow to something else, so no charge is accumulating anywhere. Current is "charge per time" - and everything that flows in always flows out again (to a very good approximation).
 
  • #13
mfb said:
This is not a clear description of a circuit, and without additional information about the circuit it is impossible to tell if there will be a current flow.
If you connect two resistors in parallel, then different currents can flow through them. That should not be surprising.

Edit: I wrote my post before I saw your last post.
A and B cannot be open ends, the current will flow to something else, so no charge is accumulating anywhere.
Check the figure that I posted before your post
 
  • #14
You posted while I was already writing my post. See my edit in post 12.
 
  • #15
mfb said:
You posted while I was already writing my post. See my edit in post 12.
I don't understand what do you mean? I just want to know if there is going to be a current through R or not considering that the amount of charge at A is more than That at B
 
  • #16
I don't understand what do you mean?
I changed my previous post (you can change posts after you posted them, see the "edit" button in your posts).
ElmorshedyDr said:
I just want to know if there is going to be a current through R
That depends on the remaining circuit, especially the connections at A and B.
or not considering that the amount of charge at A is more than That at B
There are no charges hanging around, neither at A nor at B.
 
  • #17
I think what you say is "obvious" is the answer to a question. I doubt the question was "prove that no current would flow in a wire connected between two wires of equal potential". That's obvious.
 
  • #18
ImageUploadedByPhysics Forums1388254032.592837.jpg
thats the rest of the circuit
 
  • #19
Okay. The 4Ohm-resistor has 3A as well (so it is between a voltage of 12V), and the 6Ohm-resistor has 2A (so it is between a voltage of 12V -> matches). As you can see, all electrons that come through the upper left resistor can go through the upper right resistor, and the same happens at the lower side. There is no current in the vertical line.

If you change one of the resistors, this changes.
 
  • #20
mfb said:
Okay. The 4Ohm-resistor has 3A as well (so it is between a voltage of 12V), and the 6Ohm-resistor has 2A (so it is between a voltage of 12V -> matches). As you can see, all electrons that come through the upper left resistor can go through the upper right resistor, and the same happens at the lower side. There is no current in the vertical line.

If you change one of the resistors, this changes.
I have begun to really understand, but you are saying that the amount of charge at A is equal to that at B, then how are the intensities different ?
 
  • #21
put two water reservoirs fill them with the exact same amount of water each, put a 1cm diameter hole at the base of one of them and put a 2cm hole at the base of the other what happens?

remember same amount of water in both reservoirs.
 
  • #22
ElmorshedyDr said:
I have begun to really understand, but you are saying that the amount of charge at A is equal to that at B, then how are the intensities different ?
There is no amount of charge.
Forget that concept. It is wrong and it will just lead to confusion.
 
  • #23
Crazymechanic said:
put two water reservoirs fill them with the exact same amount of water each, put a 1cm diameter hole at the base of one of them and put a 2cm hole at the base of the other what happens?

remember same amount of water in both reservoirs.
Water passes through both holes at same velocity but at different volumes proportional to both areas, what's your point?
 
  • #24
mfb said:
There is no amount of charge.

Forget that concept. It is wrong and it will just lead to confusion.
Then what is the correct concept ?
 
  • #25
the point is a resistor " RESISTS" to the flow of current just like thinner pipe resists to water flow, don't take this analogy for God as it is not perfect but it can make you understand better if you think a moment.

a given potential difference has a given amount of force it can exert on the current which is the flow of charge , the higher the value of the resistor the more that part of circuit resists that flow of charge , so you get more heat in the resistor and less current after the resistor.

have you ever played in garden with a water hose ? squeeze the end of it and it is harder for water to come out in the same quantity and usually it doesn't because it can't as it only has a given pressure.open the hose and you get more water flow as it is easier now for the water to flow out of the hose but as I said water is not electricity , and if you will get deeper with time into this you will have to use and understand what electricity is and what it does in different conductors, resistors, circuits etc.
But for the most basic idea of resistance and Potential you can use this one.
That's all.
 
  • #26
ElmorshedyDr said:
Then what is the correct concept ?
Potential differences and currents. Nothing else is relevant in all circuits you'll ever see.

Currents are always balanced for all parts of the network - there is the same amount of current going in as there is current going out. If there are 2A coming from the left and 2A going to the right then there cannot be any current coming from above (with the geometry of your circuit).
 
  • #27
mfb said:
Potential differences and currents. Nothing else is relevant in all circuits you'll ever see.
Currents are always balanced for all parts of the network - there is the same amount of current going in as there is current going out. If there are 2A coming from the left and 2A going to the right then there cannot be any current coming from above (with the geometry of your circuit).
Let's say that 5 coulombs enter the circuit 3 coulombs go through the 2 ohm resistor and 2 coulombs go throng the 3 ohm resistor but of course both of them would flow at the same velocity to keep the current flowing at the same pace through the whole circuit but doesn't that make point A more negatively charged then B which should create a potential difference between both points
 
  • #28
As I said, those concepts are not useful, so please stop trying to use them. They will just lead to more confusion.

Each second, 5 Coulombs go through the whole circuit. 3 Coulomb per second go through the upper left resistor (towards A) and through the upper right resistor (away from A). There is nothing "left" at A. No charge that could accumulate there, the same amount flows in and out.
 
  • #29
ok let's pause for a while.
when speaking of electricity the speed of current flow is meaningless , well I don't want to explain that now because it will ge this discussion into a chaos but all you need to know as mfb said is current (increase /decrease ) and voltage (potential difference) if you know them you can use them to understand and later calculate how much voltage drops on each resistors and other things.
 
  • #30
mfb said:
As I said, those concepts are not useful, so please stop trying to use them. They will just lead to more confusion.

Each second, 5 Coulombs go through the whole circuit. 3 Coulomb per second go through the upper left resistor (towards A) and through the upper right resistor (away from A). There is nothing "left" at A. No charge that could accumulate there, the same amount flows in and out.
Yeah, but a wire of 3A and a wire of 2A wouldn't the 3A wire be more negative creating a potential difference I know that there is no accumulation in the wire as there is a repulsion force between the electrons and as the current should have the same pace along the whole circuit but I mean that the FLOW would make it more negative
 

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