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what is ment by potential difference ? what is ment by higher potential and lower potential ? why do electrons flow from lower potential to higher potential ?

what is ment by potential difference ? what is ment by higher potential and lower potential ? why do electrons flow from lower potential to higher potential ?

Grade:12

1 Answers

NIKHIL GARG
38 Points
13 years ago

Electric potential is a location dependent quantity which expresses the amount of potential energy per unit of charge at a specified location. 

The electric potential difference is the difference in electric potential (V) between the final and the initial location when work is done upon a charge to change its potential energy. 

The standard metric unit on electric potential difference is the volt, abbreviated V.

When a Coulomb of charge (or any given amount of charge) possesses a relatively large quantity of potential energy at a given location, then that location is said to be a location of high electric potential. And similarly, if a Coulomb of charge (or any given amount of charge) possesses a relatively small quantity of potential energy at a given location, then that location is said to be a location of low electric potential.

Electricity and water are very different things, and they flow for different reasons, but there are enough similarities that comparing the two can help you imagine, understand, and remember what is happening in an electrical circuit. For example, water will flow from a high place to a low place, if there's nothing blocking it from doing so. It flows for the same reason - gravity. Electrical charge also flows when it can move from someplace with a higher potential energy to someplace where it will have a lower potential energy. This change in potential energy is due to an electrical field, instead of a gravitational field. The fact that electrical charges will move, if they can, to a place with a lower electrical potential energy is one of those basic laws of the universe, like gravity.

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