# Is electron volt an alternate unit for electric potential? [closed]

My question is: Can an electron volt be considered an alternate unit for electric potential?

• No, it is a unit of energy en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronvolt – Michael Brown Jul 11 '13 at 1:18
• @Michael that should be an answer – David Z Jul 11 '13 at 3:40
• @DavidZaslavsky An answer which is just a link? – Michael Brown Jul 11 '13 at 4:06
• It's not just a link. Even without the link, you said the eV is a unit of energy, which answers the question. – David Z Jul 11 '13 at 4:17
• This question appears to be off-topic because it can be answered easily by means of an internet search – twistor59 Jul 11 '13 at 12:35

No. The electronvolt is a unit of energy.

It is defined as the energy gained/lost by an electron when it passes through a potential difference of 1 volt. Hence the name electronvolt. Its symbol is $eV$.

It is equal to about $1.6 × 10^{-19} J$.

It is used frequently while solving problems relating to tiny charges - like electrons and protons, etc. because it becomes easier to solve problems by calculating with numbers like $5eV$ rather than with $0.0000000000000000008J$ (which is the value of $5eV$ in joules).

Note that it is not an SI unit.

The SI unit of electric potential is a Volt, which is equivalent to a Joule per Coulomb. So for an electron-volt to be used in a unit for electric potential it will need to be divided by some unit for electric charge: $eV/C$ or something like that. I am not aware if such a unit exists in systems outside SI.

• I am not aware if such a unit exists in systems outside SI. The cgs unit is the statvolt. – Ben Crowell Jul 11 '13 at 4:32