Definition of voltage: www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_1/4.html

Thread Starter

David Lewis

Joined Jun 29, 2009
12
The web page says:

"Defined in the context of static electricity, voltage is
the measure of work required to move a unit charge
from one location to another, against the force which
tries to keep electric charges balanced."

The amount of work required to move a unit charge
through an electric field isn't voltage, it's energy
(measured in joules). Yes, even if you move one coulomb
of charge, it doesn't magically convert work to voltage.
One could say (in this case) work done in joules is
numerically equal to the voltage of the field in volts.
However, it's usually clearer to define voltage
(physical dimension) first, and then volts (unit of measure)
second.
 
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