All Questions
22 questions
6
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Why doesn't electric field of an electromagnetic wave cause an electric shock?
An electromagnetic wave can have an electric field magnitude of more than 1000 V/m, which is a very high potential difference. When the light shines on you, why don't you feel an electric shock?
6
votes
1
answer
479
views
Can someone answer my questions on the concept of voltage?
What I understand by voltage in a circuit is that an electric field causes electrons to move from the negative terminal to the positive terminal. As it does so it converts its electrical potential ...
- 307
4
votes
1
answer
152
views
Why does a voltaic cell induce an electric force proportional to voltage?
I'm trying to understand the intuition behind Ohm's law (that current is proportional to voltage).
I understand the basics of the Drude model: if the electrons frequently collide and on average reset ...
- 93
4
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How to measure a static electric field?
I looked up google but didn't find any design for measuring electric field that doesn't vary with time.
My own idea is to use two parallel plates (like a capacitor but without the dielectric). In an ...
- 53
2
votes
3
answers
95
views
How do circuits work at a subatomic level?
I imagine it’s like this. Let’s say we connect a copper wire to a battery’s terminals. The electrons from the negative side will thus exert a push on the electrons near the wire and it will continue. ...
- 31
2
votes
2
answers
234
views
Why can't I observe a voltage between two capacitor plates when only one of the plates is connected to a battery?
Let's say I have a battery and a capacitor that is neutral. Now I connect the battery positive terminal to only one plate of the capacitor. From what I know, there is a potential difference between ...
- 23
1
vote
1
answer
296
views
Why does lightning strike lightning rods sometimes?
I watched some videos and read a lot of posts mentioned that pointy shaped objects create denser electric field than other objects (especially spherical ones), that's why people use pointy and ...
- 59
1
vote
1
answer
194
views
What is the maximum voltage gradient between two electrodes? [closed]
What is the maximum voltage gradient between two electrodes?
It would be great if you put the reference to your answer.
UPDATE
Our environment is vacuum.
- 135
0
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Why does the voltage measured across a capacitor increase with time [closed]
The voltage measured across a capacitor increases over time as current flows through the circuit because more charge is accumulated. I thought however that since voltage is defined as energy/coulomb, ...
- 79
0
votes
3
answers
1k
views
How does current actually flow in a wire?
When I was in my school I was taught that the electric field due to the battery is along the wire (from $A \rightarrow B \rightarrow C \rightarrow D $) and these are responsible for electrons at each ...
- 8,476
0
votes
4
answers
159
views
Is the concept of voltage poorly explained or is it just me?
Ok my cognitive barrier is this: All the videos I watched about "what is voltage" explains it pretty much this way:
So there is an electric field which causes electrically charged objects ...
- 282
0
votes
2
answers
254
views
What does it mean when we say that an object is neutral?
I am studying electricity and until about now I never really gave much thought to the statement that equal number of proton and electron means neutral charge. Like if we simplify the question and ...
- 853
0
votes
1
answer
81
views
How do charges away from the terminal react when the switch is flipped on?
Let us say we have a simple purely resistive DC circuit. When we flip the switch a current starts flowing which after some time becomes constant. Now, I know that the electric field across difference ...
- 405
0
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Potential difference in a non-uniform electric field
Let's say I have two points in a non-uniform electric field and those points have the electric potential 10 V and 5 V. If I then would use a voltmeter to determine the voltage between those points ...
0
votes
2
answers
451
views
Voltage and electric field between Live and Neutral conductors
As far as I understood, conductors connected to some DC voltage source terminals will try to "gain" corresponding terminal potential (though capacitance of typical conductor is pretty low, so amount ...
- 99
0
votes
1
answer
60
views
Current across two points in space and zero electric field
I was wondering what would happen in the following case:
There's an electric field and points A and B nearby the field. As you can see, the's no electric field at those points. Will there be a ...
- 291
0
votes
2
answers
43
views
Can we say that space without electric field is of 0 potential?
Can we say that a given point in space, without any charges nearby, has no electric field, and thus the electric potential in this point is 0?
- 282
0
votes
3
answers
241
views
What is the connection between electric field and a battery?
Ok I'll start my question with laying some background: (Correct me if I'm getting things wrong - but don't be picky).
Put electro-magnetism aside for this discussion - an electric field is some space ...
- 282
0
votes
1
answer
269
views
Voltage as the work to move from infinity to a point in field
I understand that electric potential is defined as the work needed to move a charge from infinity to a specific point in the field.
However, how does this apply for a field which is limited between ...
- 15
0
votes
1
answer
212
views
Electric field along a wire and load
I have referred to many books and all of them apply loss in potential across a resistor only in case of circuits. However, the electric field is present in the whole conductor. Hence the electrons ...
-1
votes
2
answers
526
views
Electric current and potential difference
I have lots of doubts regarding electrical energy, electric current and voltage. I have tried to understand as much I can but every time I try to completely clear my concept, I encounter a dilemma! So ...
- 499
-1
votes
1
answer
199
views
Electric arc and electric spark differences? [duplicate]
Why does an electric spark occur discontinuously while an electric arc is not extinguished as long as the current is maintained?
- 59