Voltage and amps

[Shrykull]

Ok, just what is voltage(potential) and amps (current) a measure of, what I mean is if you could see some electrons in a medium that conducts electricity what would you see them do as the voltage on it was increased, and what would you see if the amps were increased. It's confused me, maybe it would be like a rivers KE perhaps, voltage would be how fast the river is flowing and amps would be what's flowing- say a river of something denser than water.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Ok, just what is voltage(potential) and amps (current) a measure of, what I mean is if you could see some electrons in a medium that conducts electricity what would you see them do as the voltage on it was increased, and what would you see if the amps were increased. It's confused me, maybe it would be like a rivers KE perhaps, voltage would be how fast the river is flowing and amps would be what's flowing- say a river of something denser than water.

Not quite. It is probably more accurate to think of voltage being how wide/deep the river is. The current (amperage) would then be thought of as how fast the water is flowing in that part of the river at any given moment.

[Howedar]

No, that would be voltage. The amperage would be the volume of water passing through a point over a certain time interval.

[Darth Wong]

The most popular explanation is the water hose analogy. Voltage is the water pressure. Current is the volumetric rate of flow of water through the hose. Resistance is the narrowness of the hose.

Physically speaking, voltage is the electrical potential which attracts electrons from point A to point B. Current is the rate at which electrons flow through the wire, expressed in amperes, which are Coulombs per second, and a Coulomb is literally a fixed number of electrons (I forgot the exact number; suffice to say it's large). Resistance is measured in ohms, and it is a derived unit, in the sense that it is simply a ratio between voltage and current.

PS. I suppose I should also note that electrons don't really "flow" through the wire the way water flows through a hose, but the analogy is functional. The fact that the electron which comes out the other end is not the same electron which went in is not really important.

[Howedar]

6.25e18 electrons in a Coulomb IIRC.

[Crown]

So which is more dangerous? What I mean, somewhere in the back of my mind I remember someone saying; It's not the Voltage that kills you, it's the current!.

EDIT:: Forgot to add, or is it the voltage. I am confused.

[Eframepilot]

It's high current that actually kills you, but high current at a low voltage can't overcome your body's natural resistance (IIRC it must be at least 60 volts). Conversely, extremely high voltage from, say, a capacitor could be 100,000 volts, but if the current is significantly below an ampere the shock from it wouldn't kill you.

[Darth Wong]

So which is more dangerous? What I mean, somewhere in the back of my mind I remember someone saying; It's not the Voltage that kills you, it's the current!.

EDIT:: Forgot to add, or is it the voltage. I am confused.

It's actually the power that turns you into a charcoal briquet.

However, it's possible to have high voltage with no power, but it's obviously not possible to have high current with no power. That's why we have the old saying that it's not the volts, it's the amps. It's a useful public safety message because otherwise, some people would think low-voltage taps are safe, when that's not necessarily the case.

[kojikun]

Warning: Infodump

voltage could also be considered a measure of speed/acceleration of a given amount of electrons. for instance, an electron moving right close to the speed of light will be at a few million volts (because thats the difference required to move it at that speed). theres also electron volts, which is the energy one electron has whence its crossed a voltage potential of one volt, or 1.602e-19J. so when you accelerate an electron across, say, a thousand volts, the end product is 1KeV, because its 1 electrons mass accelerated by 1000V. but for things like protons, they can be at 1KeV energy wise but will be travelling much slower then the electrons, because the mass difference is 1820:1 against the electron or something like that. So while an electron at 4MeV is at near the speed of light, a proton at 4MeV will be at maybe only 10% the speed of light.

electron volts can also be a mass counting unit, because of the interchangability of mass and energy thanks to E=mc^2. so, for instance, 1eV is the energy contained in one electron accelerated by 1V, and thus theres also a joules-equivalent (1.602e-19J) and thus also a mass equivalent of 1.78e-36 grams. So, for instance, my podgey arse comes in at about 1.8e+41eV, or 1.8e+29TeV. just for comparison, the worlds most powerful particle accelerator can only push particles to a few TeV (the accelerator is called, obviously, the tevatron, and you can see it at http://www.fnal.gov/ ). the reason my ass has more eV then the fast particles created by man is because those particles number a few hundred at most, and theyre all going real fast, whereas im near-infinitely more particles going real slow, and were also talking mass-equivalents not just velocity energy (if we consider particle motion, then theres a shitload more energy in me then just the mere 1.8e+29TeV).

[Shrykull]

PS. I suppose I should also note that electrons don't really "flow" through the wire the way water flows through a hose, but the analogy is functional. The fact that the electron which comes out the other end is not the same electron which went in is not really important.

could it perhaps be decribed as a relay race, it passes the electrons from iron atom (or whatever metal) to iron atom down the wire?

[Kuroneko]

could it perhaps be decribed as a relay race, it passes the electrons from iron atom (or whatever metal) to iron atom down the wire?

That's a pretty functional analogy. The only nitpick is that the word "race" usually has the connotation of speed, which is something those electrons lack. Well, I suppose of a handful of centimeters per hour is very fast when you're the size of an electron.

A comparison I'm fond of is sound: the air particles carry the energy at Mach 1, but obviously they don't themselves move that fast--you don't get Mach 1 winds everytime you speak. [Flashbacks of "Uzumaki."]