Everything about Electric Potential totally explained
At a point in space, the
electric potential is the
potential energy per unit of
charge that's associated with a static (time-invariant)
electric field. It is typically measured in
volts, and is a
Lorentz scalar quantity. The difference in electrical potential between two points is known as
voltage.
There is also a generalized electric
scalar potential that's used in
electrodynamics when time-varying electromagnetic fields are present. This generalized electric potential can't be simply interpreted as a potential energy, however.
Explanation
Electric potential may be conceived of as "electric
pressure". Where this "pressure" is uniform, no current flows and nothing happens. This is similar to why people don't feel normal atmospheric air pressure: there's no difference between the pressure inside the body and outside, so nothing is felt. However, where this electrical pressure varies, an electric field exists, which will create a
force on charged particles.
Mathematically, it's the
potential φ (a
scalar field) associated with the
conservative electric field seen above, as expected.
Applications in electronics
This electric potential, typically measured in
volts, provides a simple way to analyze
electric circuits without requiring detailed knowledge of the circuit shape or the fields within it.
The electric potential provides a simple way to analyze
electrical networks with the help of
Kirchhoff's voltage law, without solving the detailed
Maxwell's equations for the fields of the circuit.
Units
The
SI unit of electric potential is the
volt (in honour of
Alessandro Volta), which is so widely used that the terms
voltage and
electric potential are almost synonymous. Older units are rarely used nowadays. Variants of the
centimeter gram second system of units included a number of different units for electric potential, including the
abvolt and the
statvolt.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Electric Potential'.
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