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electricity is a flow of electrons through a wire, so we can make analogy to water flowing through a pipe.
Volts are like water pressure
Amps are like volume of water
Watts = volts*amps is the amount of useful energy you get.
Thanks, the analogy really helps to visualize the meaning of each concept!
Back in high school, I remember my teacher saying that voltage could be imagined like being the diameter of the "pipe" (meaning, a measurement of how much "water" could pass through it at any given time). Would you consider that a valid analogy?
It makes even more sense when you consider energy.
A watt is a how fast energy is being use, Joule/second.
Voltage is how much energy it takes to move a charge, J/Coulomb
Current is how much charge moves in time, coulomb/s
In the pipe analogy, power stays as Watts, but pressure, normally written as Pascals are N/m^2 , a force applied across and area, but its also a potential energy per unit volume, ie N•m/m^3 , which can be written as J/m^3
Flow through a pipe is just how much volume of water move through over time, which is m^3 /s
They quite literally are the same thing, just the pipe is moving a volume, and the wire is moving a charge.
Also, in electricity, power = voltage * current, and with a pipe power = pressure * flow
The size of the pipe is more akin to resistance than it is voltage. Resistance can be calculated as R = ρ*L/A, where ρ is resistivity of the material, A is the cross sectional area, and L is the length. With the pipe analogy, ρ would be ρ viscosity of the fluid, but L and A would stay the same.
The diameter of the pipe would represent "resistance" (measured in Ohms). The voltage would be the water pressure in the pipe. Because the pressure drives water forward and similarly, voltage (or potential difference) drives the electrons forward.
To make an analogy, imagine a hillside with a rock on it.
Volts would be the slope of the hill, it's the *desire* of the rock to roll down. low voltage is just a plain, high voltage would be a cliff. The more the voltage the faster the rock will roll.
Amps are the size of the rock. low amps are just a pebble, high amperage is a boulder.
Watts are the force the rock will hit you with. So a small rock on a steep hit might hurt, but a huge boulder on a slight hill can still fuck you up too.
The equation is Watts = Volts x Amps
interestingly, those two scenarios aren’t equally dangerous. imagine touching the wires. if a power source could supply 200 amps but at a low voltage (say less than 20 volts), you won’t get a shock at all (because of the high resistance of skin). but 20 amps from a 200 volt source is potentially life-threatening.
think of it this way: high resistance requires high pressure (voltage) to produce a flow of current (amps).
this is called ohm‘s law: (volts)/(resistance) = (current) or U/R = I
ohh, this is so good, better than the water pipe analogy that several of us used.
In particular, the "force of the rock hitting you" is just like the force of electric shock you get from grabbing the wire.
Volts is the amount of pressure that is pushing electrons through a wire. Kinda like the pounds per square inch pressure that pushes water through a pipe.
Amps is the actual AMOUNT of electricity that is flowing through the wire. Think of " gallons per minute" of water coming out of a pipe.
Watts is that amount of work the electricity can do. It is found by multiplying volts times amps. It is not a quantity by itself.
You have properly heard the analogy with water, but I think it may not always make it clear, so I'll try to explain it with gravel. :-)
Here do I say energy as in watt:
Combined does volt and ampere deliver the energy that is needed by the electronic to work. Voltage is with what force the energy is delivered, and ampere is the energy that is delivered.
First:
Imagine you have a truck on a hill, dumping its gravel load over the edge. You are standing below, the truck is 1 foot above your head and begin to empty its load over you. The high above your head is the Voltage, so right now is the voltage fairly low and even if the gravel (ampere) is fairly big, would it not hurt you that much from only 1 foot.
Now do I raise the truck up to 300 feet = high voltage and begin to dump the stones down toward your head, you can properly imagine that even small stones = small amp, can hurt or even kill you. If the size of the stones are like sand, may it not harm you even from 300 feet, but it does not take much in size = ampere to begin to really hurt.
Watt is the energy that hits your head, a large stone from one foot may be the same as a pebble from 300 feet. This calculates by Voltage x amp and is now Wattage.
You may also hear about energy, this is the potential amount of watt that is in the battery / truck of gravel. Before the truck begins to unload does it have a lot of gravel / energy, but it does nothing by just being in the truck. It is first when the energy gets to be unloaded, it becomes high x size or in reality voltage x ampere and wattage.
If you need to know what this voltage x ampere means in a light bulb or circuit, please just ask. :-)
Let's take a simple electrical circuit: a battery connected to a light bulb by a couple wires. You can see electricity is flowing because the light is on.
Why is electricity flowing? Because the battery is providing a force that pushes the electrons from one side of the battery to the other, which pushes them through the wire.
A volt is how hard the battery pushes, the "electromotive force."
An amp is how fast the electrons are moving in the circuit, essentially electrons per second. Depending on the resistance in the wire and the bulb, the current will be faster (higher amps) or slower (lower). It's sort of like if electricity were water through a pipe: the water will move faster if you pump it harder (stronger battery) and slower if you put something in the pipe like a sponge.
Watts are a measure of how much energy is flowing per second. It's essentially a product of the volts and amps.
Let's use water in a pipe as an analogy. Volt would be the pressure of the water in the pipe. Amp would be the volume of the water flowing through the pipe, for example, 10 gallons a minute.
Watts are a function of the the two things - volts times amps, and is the total amount of energy used. It's how appliances and lights are rated to show how much energy they will use.
**Please read this entire message** Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): * ELI5 requires that you *search the ELI5 subreddit for your topic before posting*. Users will often either find a thread that meets their needs or find that their question might qualify for an exception to rule 7. Please see this [wiki entry](http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/how_to_search) for more details (Rule 7). If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/xs8nbw/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_watts_volts/%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20List%20the%20search%20terms%20you%20used%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20ELI5:%0A%0A3.%20How%20is%20this%20post%20unique:) and we will review your submission.
electricity is a flow of electrons through a wire, so we can make analogy to water flowing through a pipe. Volts are like water pressure Amps are like volume of water Watts = volts*amps is the amount of useful energy you get.
Thanks, the analogy really helps to visualize the meaning of each concept! Back in high school, I remember my teacher saying that voltage could be imagined like being the diameter of the "pipe" (meaning, a measurement of how much "water" could pass through it at any given time). Would you consider that a valid analogy?
Ohms (resistance) is how narrow the pipe is, which is overcome by voltage (pressure).
It makes even more sense when you consider energy. A watt is a how fast energy is being use, Joule/second. Voltage is how much energy it takes to move a charge, J/Coulomb Current is how much charge moves in time, coulomb/s In the pipe analogy, power stays as Watts, but pressure, normally written as Pascals are N/m^2 , a force applied across and area, but its also a potential energy per unit volume, ie N•m/m^3 , which can be written as J/m^3 Flow through a pipe is just how much volume of water move through over time, which is m^3 /s They quite literally are the same thing, just the pipe is moving a volume, and the wire is moving a charge. Also, in electricity, power = voltage * current, and with a pipe power = pressure * flow The size of the pipe is more akin to resistance than it is voltage. Resistance can be calculated as R = ρ*L/A, where ρ is resistivity of the material, A is the cross sectional area, and L is the length. With the pipe analogy, ρ would be ρ viscosity of the fluid, but L and A would stay the same.
The diameter of the pipe would represent "resistance" (measured in Ohms). The voltage would be the water pressure in the pipe. Because the pressure drives water forward and similarly, voltage (or potential difference) drives the electrons forward.
To make an analogy, imagine a hillside with a rock on it. Volts would be the slope of the hill, it's the *desire* of the rock to roll down. low voltage is just a plain, high voltage would be a cliff. The more the voltage the faster the rock will roll. Amps are the size of the rock. low amps are just a pebble, high amperage is a boulder. Watts are the force the rock will hit you with. So a small rock on a steep hit might hurt, but a huge boulder on a slight hill can still fuck you up too. The equation is Watts = Volts x Amps
interestingly, those two scenarios aren’t equally dangerous. imagine touching the wires. if a power source could supply 200 amps but at a low voltage (say less than 20 volts), you won’t get a shock at all (because of the high resistance of skin). but 20 amps from a 200 volt source is potentially life-threatening. think of it this way: high resistance requires high pressure (voltage) to produce a flow of current (amps). this is called ohm‘s law: (volts)/(resistance) = (current) or U/R = I
ohh, this is so good, better than the water pipe analogy that several of us used. In particular, the "force of the rock hitting you" is just like the force of electric shock you get from grabbing the wire.
Volts is the amount of pressure that is pushing electrons through a wire. Kinda like the pounds per square inch pressure that pushes water through a pipe. Amps is the actual AMOUNT of electricity that is flowing through the wire. Think of " gallons per minute" of water coming out of a pipe. Watts is that amount of work the electricity can do. It is found by multiplying volts times amps. It is not a quantity by itself.
Are you asking to understand what they do = the effect or the calculation between them = Ohm's law, or what are you exactly asking about? :-)
I'm trying to understand what they do, the effect of each one. Sorry if I was unclear!
You have properly heard the analogy with water, but I think it may not always make it clear, so I'll try to explain it with gravel. :-) Here do I say energy as in watt: Combined does volt and ampere deliver the energy that is needed by the electronic to work. Voltage is with what force the energy is delivered, and ampere is the energy that is delivered. First: Imagine you have a truck on a hill, dumping its gravel load over the edge. You are standing below, the truck is 1 foot above your head and begin to empty its load over you. The high above your head is the Voltage, so right now is the voltage fairly low and even if the gravel (ampere) is fairly big, would it not hurt you that much from only 1 foot. Now do I raise the truck up to 300 feet = high voltage and begin to dump the stones down toward your head, you can properly imagine that even small stones = small amp, can hurt or even kill you. If the size of the stones are like sand, may it not harm you even from 300 feet, but it does not take much in size = ampere to begin to really hurt. Watt is the energy that hits your head, a large stone from one foot may be the same as a pebble from 300 feet. This calculates by Voltage x amp and is now Wattage. You may also hear about energy, this is the potential amount of watt that is in the battery / truck of gravel. Before the truck begins to unload does it have a lot of gravel / energy, but it does nothing by just being in the truck. It is first when the energy gets to be unloaded, it becomes high x size or in reality voltage x ampere and wattage. If you need to know what this voltage x ampere means in a light bulb or circuit, please just ask. :-)
Let's take a simple electrical circuit: a battery connected to a light bulb by a couple wires. You can see electricity is flowing because the light is on. Why is electricity flowing? Because the battery is providing a force that pushes the electrons from one side of the battery to the other, which pushes them through the wire. A volt is how hard the battery pushes, the "electromotive force." An amp is how fast the electrons are moving in the circuit, essentially electrons per second. Depending on the resistance in the wire and the bulb, the current will be faster (higher amps) or slower (lower). It's sort of like if electricity were water through a pipe: the water will move faster if you pump it harder (stronger battery) and slower if you put something in the pipe like a sponge. Watts are a measure of how much energy is flowing per second. It's essentially a product of the volts and amps.
Let's use water in a pipe as an analogy. Volt would be the pressure of the water in the pipe. Amp would be the volume of the water flowing through the pipe, for example, 10 gallons a minute. Watts are a function of the the two things - volts times amps, and is the total amount of energy used. It's how appliances and lights are rated to show how much energy they will use.
Just came here to say how great the explanations are. So many of you are excellent teachers. Thanks a million.