- #1
kaotak
Okay, I'll pose some serious questions.
1) What does the voltage due to a point charge really mean? I know that the voltage due to a point charge can be found by V = kq/r, but what does this mean, why is it useful to know? If you know the voltage at an arbitrary point, what does that really tell you?
2) What does the voltage of a Van de Graaff generator mean? Across what distance does it span?
3) My textbook (Physics for Scientists and Engineers) said that the potential energy of a pair of point charges separated by a distance r is the work it took to bring those charges from infinite separation to the separation r. Question: How can one unlock that potential energy that comes from the work invested in moving the point charges? For instance, one can unlock the potential energy of height by jumping off a cliff. How do you do it for a pair of point charges? What "falls" and where does it "fall"?
4) Why are voltage drops useful? What happens when you run a current through them? How do we get energy from voltage drops?
5) In circuits, why are there voltage drops along the resistors? What causes the voltage to be higher at a point before the resistor than at a point after the resistor?
1) What does the voltage due to a point charge really mean? I know that the voltage due to a point charge can be found by V = kq/r, but what does this mean, why is it useful to know? If you know the voltage at an arbitrary point, what does that really tell you?
2) What does the voltage of a Van de Graaff generator mean? Across what distance does it span?
3) My textbook (Physics for Scientists and Engineers) said that the potential energy of a pair of point charges separated by a distance r is the work it took to bring those charges from infinite separation to the separation r. Question: How can one unlock that potential energy that comes from the work invested in moving the point charges? For instance, one can unlock the potential energy of height by jumping off a cliff. How do you do it for a pair of point charges? What "falls" and where does it "fall"?
4) Why are voltage drops useful? What happens when you run a current through them? How do we get energy from voltage drops?
5) In circuits, why are there voltage drops along the resistors? What causes the voltage to be higher at a point before the resistor than at a point after the resistor?