Umair Gaines
Electrical potential difference, also known as voltage, is the difference in electric potential between two points. It is the capability of a charged body to do work. When a body is charged, work is done, and this work is stored in the body in the form of electric potential. The potential difference is equal to the amount of current multiplied by the resistance. In the International System of Units (SI), the derived unit for voltage is the volt (V). The voltmeter is an instrument used to measure voltage.
Characteristics and Values of Electrical Potential Difference
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Definition | Electric potential difference is the work done per unit charge to move a unit charge from one point to another in an electric field. |
| Other Names | Voltage, electric potential, potential drop, electrostatic potential, electric field potential |
| Unit | Volt (V) |
| Calculation | The potential difference between points A and B, that is, the change in potential of a charge q moved from A to B, is given by the formula: V_B - V_A. |
| Relationship with Voltage | Voltage is the energy per unit charge. |
| Relationship with Current | The existence of a potential difference between two points means that the current will flow from one point to the other. |
| Relationship with Energy | The energy of an electron is related to voltage by the formula: Delta U = q * Delta V. |
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What You'll Learn
Voltage and electric potential
Electric potential, also known as electric potential energy, is the energy per unit charge. It is a potential, meaning its value is relative to another reference point, and the difference in electric potential between two points is known as the electric potential difference or voltage.
The electric potential difference is the change in potential of a charge moved from one point to another. It is the difference in potential energy between two points, and it is this difference that causes a current to flow. The potential difference is the "driving force" behind the movement of electrons, and the greater the difference, the greater the current.
The potential difference is measured in volts, and the energy supplied by a battery can be calculated by the formula:
$$\co: 0,3> \Delta U = q\Delta V$$
Where:
- $\Delta U$ is the change in potential energy
- $q$ is the charge
- $\Delta V$ is the change in voltage
For example, a 1.5-V AAA battery will lose energy as it moves 100 C of charge. The energy supplied by the battery is calculated as:
$$\Delta U = q\Delta V = (100 \text{ C})(1.5 \text{ V}) = 150 \text{ C V}$$
However, not all of the energy is available for external use. The potential difference can also be calculated as the work done to move a unit charge between two points:
$$\co: 8> V = \frac{W}{Q}$$
Where:
- $V$ is the potential difference
- $W$ is the work done
- $Q$ is the charge
The potential difference is also related to the energy given to a fundamental charge accelerated through a potential difference of 1 V, which is known as an electron-volt (eV). A potential difference of 1 V will give an electron 1 eV of energy.
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Voltmeter measurements
A voltmeter is a measuring instrument used to find the voltage levels or electric potential difference between two points in an electric circuit. It is connected in parallel with the component whose voltage is being measured. Voltmeter measurements are always relative.
Analog voltmeters move a pointer across a scale in proportion to the voltage measured and can be built from a galvanometer and series resistor. Meters using amplifiers can measure tiny voltages of microvolts or less. Digital voltmeters give a numerical display of voltage by using an analog-to-digital converter.
Moving-coil instruments with a permanent-magnet field respond only to direct current. Measurement of AC voltage requires a rectifier in the circuit so that the coil deflects in only one direction. Some moving-coil instruments are also made with the zero position in the middle of the scale instead of at one end; these are useful if the voltage reverses its polarity.
The sensitivity and input resistance of a voltmeter can be increased if the current required to deflect the meter pointer is supplied by an amplifier and power supply instead of by the circuit under test. A once-popular form of this instrument used a vacuum tube in the amplifier circuit and was called the vacuum tube voltmeter (VTVM). Today, these circuits use a solid-state amplifier using field-effect transistors, hence FET-VM, and appear in handheld digital multimeters as well as in bench and laboratory instruments.
A specialized form of the VTVM or FET-VM is the AC voltmeter, which is optimized for measuring AC voltage. They have much wider bandwidth and better sensitivity than a typical multifunction device. A digital voltmeter (DVM) measures an unknown input voltage by converting the voltage to a digital value and then displays the voltage in numeric form.
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Current, resistance, and energy
Electric potential is the potential energy per unit charge. The potential difference between two points is the change in potential of a charge moved from one point to another. This is often referred to as "voltage". The potential difference is measured in volts, which can also be expressed as joules (energy) per coulomb (charge).
The potential difference describes how hard electrons are being driven from one point to another. A potential difference of 1 V gives an electron an energy of 1 eV. This simple relationship makes the electron-volt a convenient energy unit.
The potential difference is what creates a current. Current is the flow of electrons from one point to another. The higher the potential difference, the more current there will be.
Resistance in electricity refers to the opposition to the flow of current in a conductor. It is measured in ohms and represented by the symbol "R". The factors that affect resistance include the material of the conductor, its temperature, and its cross-sectional area.
The relationship between current, resistance, and potential difference in an electrical circuit is described by Ohm's Law. This states that the current in a circuit is directly proportional to the potential difference (voltage) and inversely proportional to the resistance.
The power in a circuit can be calculated as the product of the current and the potential difference (voltage).
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Electrochemical processes
Voltage, also known as electrical potential difference, electric pressure, or electric tension, is the difference in electric potential between two points. The potential difference between two points corresponds to the pressure difference between the same two points. A simple analogy for this is a water circuit, where the pressure difference between two points in a pipework system driven by a mechanical pump corresponds to the potential difference between two points in an electric circuit driven by a battery.
Electrochemical potential is a thermodynamic measure of chemical potential that does not omit the energy contribution of electrostatics. It is expressed in the unit of J/mol. Each chemical species, such as water molecules, sodium ions, or electrons, has an electrochemical potential at any given point in space. This represents how easy or difficult it is to add more of that species to that location. In other words, it is the mechanical work done in bringing 1 mole of an ion from a standard state to a specified concentration and electrical potential.
The electrochemical potential is important in biological processes that involve molecular diffusion across membranes, in electroanalytical chemistry, and in industrial applications such as batteries and fuel cells. For example, in a battery, the energy supplied by the battery is calculated, but not all of the energy is available for external use. As a battery is discharged, some of its energy is used internally, and its terminal voltage drops.
The term electrochemical potential is sometimes used to mean an electrode potential, such as the electrode potential of corroding metals, often called the electrochemical corrosion potential (ECP). The electrode potential of corroding metals refers to the energy required to remove an electron from the metal. The electrochemical potential for electrons is also known as the Fermi level.
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Electric circuits
An electronic circuit is a type of electrical circuit. Electronic circuits are composed of individual electronic components, such as resistors, transistors, capacitors, inductors, and diodes, connected by conductive wires or traces through which electric current can flow. For a circuit to be referred to as electronic, rather than electrical, generally at least one active component must be present. The combination of components and wires allows various simple and complex operations to be performed: signals can be amplified, computations can be performed, and data can be moved from one place to another.
Electronic circuits can be further categorized into analog circuits, digital circuits, or mixed-signal circuits. In analog circuits, current or voltage may vary continuously with time to correspond to the information being represented. The basic components of analog circuits are wires, resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, and transistors. Digital circuits are used to create general-purpose computing chips, such as microprocessors, and custom-designed logic circuits, known as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). In digital electronic circuits, electric signals take on discrete values, to represent logical and numeric values. These values represent the information that is being processed. In the vast majority of cases, binary encoding is used: one voltage (typically the more positive value) represents a binary '1' and another voltage (usually a value near the ground potential, 0 V) represents a binary '0'.
To design any electrical circuit, electrical engineers need to be able to predict the voltages and currents at all places within the circuit. Simple linear circuits can be analyzed by hand using complex number theory. In more complex cases, the circuit may be analyzed with specialized computer programs or estimation techniques such as the piecewise-linear model. Circuit simulation software, such as HSPICE (an analog circuit simulator), and languages such as VHDL-AMS and verilog-AMS allow engineers to design circuits without the time, cost, and risk of error involved in building circuit prototypes.
The volt (V) is the derived unit for electric potential, voltage, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery. The electric potential difference between two points in space is known as a voltage. The electric potential is defined as the amount of work or energy needed per unit of electric charge to move the charge from a reference point to a specific point in an electric field. The electric potential at the reference point is defined as zero units, and the reference point is typically earth or a point at infinity, although any point can be used.
A useful analogy for understanding electrical concepts is a hydraulic system, in which the work done to move water is equal to the "pressure drop" multiplied by the volume of water moved. Similarly, in an electrical circuit, the work done to move electrons or other charge carriers is equal to the "electrical pressure difference" multiplied by the quantity of electrical charges moved. The larger the "pressure difference" between two points (potential difference or water pressure difference), the greater the flow between them (electric current or water flow).
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Frequently asked questions
Electrical potential difference, also known as voltage, is the difference in electric potential between two points. It is the capability of a charged body to do work.
Electrical potential difference is created by the build-up of electric charge, such as in a capacitor, or from an electromotive force, such as electromagnetic induction in a generator.
Electrical potential difference is measured using a voltmeter. One electrical lead of the voltmeter is connected to the first point, and the other lead is connected to the second point. The voltmeter measures the difference in electric potential between the two points.
