Talk:Electric potential

Please add {{WikiProject banner shell}} to this page and add the quality rating to that template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Physics B‑class Mid‑importance

	Physics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Physics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Physics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PhysicsWikipedia:WikiProject PhysicsTemplate:WikiProject Physicsphysics articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Electrical potential is different from Electrical Potential Energy, but this definition doesn't tell the reader that. This is a common misconception, and I think that it would be very useful if the distinction was made clear here.f

Electrical potential is the potential energy per unit charge seems OK, please explain.--Patrick 10:55, 31 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

Article location

Shouldn't this redirect to Electric potential, rather than the other way around? 'Electrical potential' sounds to me like a pernicious neologism, born of people's tendency to add '-al' to the ends of words that they're unsure of. My physics text uses 'electric', and a Google test also turns out in my favor (though less than overwhelmingly). --Smack (talk) 03:49, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I agree; I would prefer "electric potential" or "electrostatic potential", which is also what my books tend to use too. (Maxwell, in 1865, called in the "electric potential" too, although much of Maxwell's other terminology has fallen out of favor.) —Steven G. Johnson 02:53, Mar 11, 2005 (UTC)

Voltage and potential

Since voltage is by definition a "potential difference", a potential must be able to be measured with no reference. How is this done?

Is it correct to think of a potential as "the voltage relative to infinity"? I mean infinite distance. - Omegatron 21:26, May 30, 2005 (UTC)

Similar question: If I have a piece of metal with one less electrons than protons (or a single atom with one less electron than protons), that object has a definite charge of +1, correct? The object's charge is an absolute quantity. Does that object have an absolute potential? Or does potential always involve a reference value? - Omegatron 00:17, May 31, 2005 (UTC)

You're trying to use a specific form of a concept (voltage) to shed light on a general form (potential). That's a foolish approach, if you ask me.

Yes, potential always requires a reference point. As the article says, potential is defined as a line integral over an open path. An open path must start somewhere, so there you have it. --Smack (talk) 04:28, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

emf - voltage drop - voltage difference - potential difference.

I teach technicians electronics and all the mathematical mumbo jumbo does not help them to obtain an understanding of the difference between emf, voltage drop & potential difference.

I teach that an "emf" is a source of electical energy which can motivate electrons around a circuit. Ie. it has to be an energy source of some sort either a battery or a power supply, a charged capacitor, the voltage produced accross an inductor when there is a changing magnetic field, a illuminated solar cell etc. Disconnect it and electrons stop moving and the circuit does not go. In a purely resistive circuit the current is always phase with the voltage

A "voltage drop" on the other hand is the voltage difference accross a load when a "current flows" through it. The current and voltage in a purely resistive the current and voltage are always 180 degrees out of phase.

A "voltage or potential difference" is the difference in voltage between any two points in a circuit, which could be an emf, a voltage drop because of a current or could include the voltage accross an "open circuit", through which no current flows at all"

Ie. In a wheatstone bridge, an "emf" is applied accross two arms each arm comprising of two resistors. A current flows through each arm producing voltage drops in each of the four resistors. A voltage difference, exists accross the open circuit between the centre points of the two arms (dependent on the balance in the bridge of course) whilst the current is 0.

As a result I use E in ohms law where I calculate the current from a power source and V where I calculate a voltage drop.

Lee de

when we connect a charged sphere to the ground

when we connect a charged conducting sphere to the ground , what happened to the charge on the surface since the electric potential (v) on it is zero"??? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.209.187.34 (talk) 02:25, 17 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

Why is this so technical

This article is excessively technical. While all the math is relevant in a higher-level mathematical context, to the everyday reader, this article is almost completely useless. Perhaps a section can be added which explains the concepts of electric potential in a layman's, non-multivariable way, but also with simplified, relevant mathematics. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 199.90.6.26 (talk) 00:11, 2 February 2007 (UTC).[reply]

cause it is electrostatics in everyday 3-d space. i agree, make a 1-d electro statics section.

Variables are not defined134.154.242.29 15:05, 9 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Vector?

So is it a vector? The article doesn't seem to be too explicit about it.160.227.129.254 23:07, 1 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The usual concept of electric potential is a scalar. It generalizes to a four-vector when you consider the effects of moving charges and relativity; one of the four dimensions is the scalar electric potential, and the other three are the vector (magnetic) potential. Dicklyon 05:14, 2 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Damn it. I had a test and wrongly answered it was a vector. You have failed me Wikipedia! Only kidding. But seriously, can we have that somewhere on the article? Its kind of important.Tourskin 22:20, 2 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It's in the article. If it's not clear enough, work on it. Dicklyon 00:19, 3 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Electric potential vs electrostatic potential

Electric potential is measured in volts, while electrostatic potential [energy] is measured in joules. Why does the article say they're the same thing? Lecture 4 explains the difference (MIT OpenCourseWare). —Pengo 07:35, 31 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Electromagnetism vs Template:Electromagnetism2

I have thought for a while that the electromagnetism template is too long. I feel it gives a better overview of the subject if all of the main topics can be seen together. I created a new template and gave an explanation on the old template talk page, however I don't think many people are watching that page.

I have modified this article to demonstrate the new template and I would appreciate people's thoughts on it: constructive criticism, arguments for or against the change, suggestions for different layouts, etc.

To see an example of a similar template style, check out Template:Thermodynamic_equations. This example expands the sublist associated with the main topic article currently being viewed, then has a separate template for each main topic once you are viewing articles within that topic. My personal preference (at least for electromagnetism) would be to remain with just one template and expand the main topic sublist for all articles associated with that topic.--DJIndica 16:36, 6 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]