What Is the Electrical Equivalent in Energy Conversion?

[moonelson]

I am writing up a physics lab where we essentially submerged a light-bulb in a styrofoam cup of water and then calculated the electrical energy using the equation P=IV and then multiplied P by ∆time. Then we calculated the thermal energy using the equation Q=mc∆T. I understand you can find the electrical equivalent by dividing the electrical energy by the thermal energy, but I don't understand what the number for electrical energy actually is. Is electrical energy a constant that I am trying to prove in this experiment? Or is it the loss in energy from when energy is dissipated from the light-bulb to the water? Or is it something else?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

The electrical equivalent is the amount of current that will flow through a circuit when a voltage is applied. Flow of charge is equivalent to flow of water. The electrical flow is in units of coulombs, just like the flow of water is in units of litres.