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Voltage, also known as (electrical) potential difference, electric pressure, or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] In a static electric field , it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to move a positive test charge from the first point to the second point.
In short, an electric potential is the electric potential energy per unit charge. This value can be calculated in either a static (time-invariant) or a dynamic (time-varying) electric field at a specific time with the unit joules per coulomb (J⋅C −1) or volt (V). The electric potential at infinity is assumed to be zero.
At that time, the volt was defined as the potential difference [i.e., what is nowadays called the "voltage (difference)"] across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power. The "international volt" was defined in 1893 as 1 ⁄ 1.434 of the emf of a Clark cell.
Kirchhoff's circuit laws are two equalities that deal with the current and potential difference (commonly known as voltage) in the lumped element model of electrical circuits. They were first described in 1845 by German physicist Gustav Kirchhoff. [1] This generalized the work of Georg Ohm and preceded the work of James Clerk Maxwell.
Electric potential energy is a ... Using the formula given in ... where C is the capacitance, V is the electric potential difference, and Q the ...
The electric potential outside each material is controlled by its work function, and so dissimilar metals can show an electric potential difference even at equilibrium. The Volta potential is not an intrinsic property of the two bulk metals under consideration, but rather is determined by work function differences between the metals' surfaces ...
The difference between the electric potential at two points in space is called the potential difference (or voltage) between the two points. In general, however, the electric field cannot be described independently of the magnetic field.
These equations taken together are as powerful and complete as Maxwell's equations. Moreover, the problem has been reduced somewhat, as the electric and magnetic fields together had six components to solve for. [1] In the potential formulation, there are only four components: the electric potential and the three components of the vector potential.