Timeline for What is an amp (and other such basic questions) in the simplest possible terms?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
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| Dec 7, 2015 at 21:07 | comment | added | 16807 | @Jon Binder - Voltage is a force applied over a distance per unit charge. If I have two charged things (electrons, for instance), there's a force that attracts or repels them. The force gets bigger when either thing charges up (see coulomb's law). If they're separated by a certain distance, there's a potential energy, much like the potential energy you get from lifting up a ball. That potential energy per charge is voltage. If I have a bunch of electrons jammed in some tiny space together, there's a high voltage and they want to repel themselves. That's why voltage is a lot like pressure. | |
| Jun 8, 2015 at 12:41 | comment | added | John U | I used to think of voltage as pressure, but when things get a little more complex I now think of it as height - for example, a floating ground is like being on an airplane: Your head is still the same height off the floor, it's just the floor is now 30,000ft above the "real" ground. That doesn't make you 30,006ft tall ;) | |
| Nov 6, 2010 at 20:39 | comment | added | pingswept | I've found it useful to think of voltage as pressure. | |
| Nov 6, 2010 at 14:16 | comment | added | luis.espinal | +rep for the link. After so many years, finally something that helps me understand these concepts better. | |
| Nov 6, 2010 at 10:49 | history | edited | Mr. Hedgehog | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
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| Nov 6, 2010 at 10:38 | history | edited | Mr. Hedgehog | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
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| Nov 6, 2010 at 10:17 | comment | added | Jon Binder | I understand the relations better now, as well as what an amp is thanks to endolith, but still fail to understand in any "real" tangible way what a volt is (in the electrical sense, that is, not just as a converted unit for instance, with amps to HP). In addition, I would still love some answers (or a smack) for the hypothetical questions (as idiotic as they might be to others). Thank you for the link, nonetheless. | |
| Nov 6, 2010 at 10:03 | history | answered | Mr. Hedgehog | CC BY-SA 2.5 |