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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. ...
Mayuro 's user avatar
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 ...
Ikaruga's user avatar
  • 23
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.
mohammad rezza's user avatar
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 ...
Ankit's user avatar
  • 8,476
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 ...
TLo's user avatar
  • 853
-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 ...
Spencer's user avatar
  • 499
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 ...
YoavKlein's user avatar
  • 282
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?
YoavKlein's user avatar
  • 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 ...
YoavKlein's user avatar
  • 282
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, ...
Aliska's user avatar
  • 79
-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?
Fizzics's user avatar
  • 59
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 ...
Fizzics's user avatar
  • 59
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 ...
Aditya Ahuja's user avatar
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 ...
math_learner's user avatar
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 ...
rampatowl's user avatar
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?
Subin Manandhar's user avatar
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 ...
Ali Bakly MBGY's user avatar
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 ...
Steve T.'s user avatar
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 ...
DangerousTim's user avatar
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 ...
Nav Hari's user avatar
  • 307
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 ...
user5539357's user avatar
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 ...
Raghav Khaterpal's user avatar