Why potential difference is necessary to produce current in a circuit




















Potential difference, voltage, is a force that will cause electrons negative charges to move if they can. Voltage is the motive power behind electron flow, and electron flow is the current. In a battery, we have voltage between or across the terminals from chemical energy inside. We don't have to have current flow to have the voltage.

Some might think of voltage as "electrical pressure" because it is a force. That isn't a bad way to look at it. If we connect some wires and put a light bulb and a switch in series across the terminals of the battery, we have a circuit.

If we close the switch, voltage, which was present all the time, will now cause electrons to flow through the wire and light the bulb. The battery has a positive terminal and a negative terminal.

The positive terminal will take in electrons and the negative terminal will send them out. Current flows in only one direction. The potential difference created by the battery has energized the circuit and current flowed from the negative terminal of the battery, out through the circuit, and back to the positive one. Changing the potential difference in a circuit does not change the resistance.

Rather, it changes the current. No current will flow in an electrical circuit unless there is a potential difference across it. An electrical cell is one way to provide a potential difference across a circuit.

A potential difference applied across the circuit will cause of flow of charges a current through the circuit. Potential difference is the difference in voltage between one end of a circuit and the other, which is what allows electrical current to flow. That would be DC or Direct Current. Voltage across two terminals mean there exists a potential difference, and when the circuit gets closed, due to this potential difference the current flow.

Current flows in a circuit when there is a difference in electronic potential between two points. Your question should specify a 'potential difference', not a 'potential', of 4 V. You can solve this yourself, just divide the potential difference by the current.

Not necessarily. The two points with potential difference, will have to be connected via a conductor, for current to flow. Provided that a circuit exists, then current WILL flow. Think of the voltage potential of being the source of electrons and the current is the electrons flowing through the circuit.

Hi, there. Balendu Anand. This flow of electric charges in a conductor metal wire is called electric current. Related Doubts How does potential difference cause an electric current to flow through a metallic conductor? Asked on 9th Jun, View More. Referral Program Distribute the referral code to your friends and ask them to register with Tutorix using this referral code.

Your subscribed friend will also get 1 month subscription absolutely free. Ask Your Doubts We are really eager to clarify your doubts. When a force is required to move an electron in the direction of an electric field, its electrical potential energy increases.

On the other hand, an electron moving opposite the direction of the electric field will decrease its electrical potential energy. This is because the electric field direction is in the direction which a positive charge spontaneously moves. An electron is negatively charged. Answer: D. The battery establishes an electric potential difference across the two ends of the external circuit and thus causes the charge to flow. The battery voltage is the numerical value of this electric potential difference.

In an analogous manner, it is the difference in water pressure between the top of the water slide and the bottom of the water slide that the water pump creates. This difference in water pressure causes water to flow down the slide. Because of the similarity between electric potential difference in an electric circuit and water pressure in a water park, the quantity electric potential difference is sometimes referred to as electric pressure.

The electrochemical cells in an electric circuit supply the energy to pump the charge from the low energy terminal to the high energy terminal, thus providing a means by which the charge can flow. In an analogous manner, a water pump in a water park supplies the energy to pump the water from the low energy position to the high energy position. Because of the similarity between the battery in an electric circuit and a water pump in a water park, the battery is sometimes referred to as a charge pump.

Answer: E. As emphasized on this page, the battery supplies the energy to move the charge through the battery, thus establishing and maintaining an electric potential difference. The battery does not supply electrons nor protons to the circuit; those are already present in the atoms of the conducting material.

In fact, there would be no need to even supply charge at all since charge does not get used up in an electric circuit; only energy is used up in an electric circuit. The electric potential difference or voltage of a battery is the potential energy difference across its terminals for every Coulomb of charge. Use the diagram in answering the next four questions. Answer: A. The positive terminal of a battery is higher in electric potential than the negative terminal by an amount which is equal to the battery voltage.

The negative terminal of the battery is the low voltage location on a circuit. It is considered to be at 0 Volts. Energy is required to cause a positive test charge to move against the electric field between the negative and the positive terminal. A 12 volt battery would supply 12 Joules of electric potential energy per every 1 Coulomb of charge which moves between its negative and positive terminals. The ratio of the change in potential energy to charge is Thus, 24 Joules would be the difference in potential energy for 2 Coulombs of charge.

The following circuit consists of a D-cell and a light bulb. Indicate whether the devices add energy to or remove energy from the charge. The electrochemical cell adds energy to the charge to move it from the low potential, negative terminal to the high potential, positive terminal. The light bulb removes energy from the charge.

Thus, the charge is at lower energy and a lower electric potential when at locations C and A. This is what makes something electric. All atoms contain electrically charged components. The positive charge is produced by the protons that are held together with uncharged neutrons in the nucleus of atoms.

The negative charge is produced by the electrons. The electrons are the smallest particles in an atom and orbit around the nucleus at relatively large distances a bit like the tiny Earth orbiting the Sun. The charge of an electron is exactly the same as the charge of a proton. An electric charge is usually due to a deficiency or excess of electrons.



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