Electricity!?!?

[planejay]

Hey all I am a bit confused about amps and volts. I understand that an amp is a unit of current and a volt is a unit of electric potential. However, I think I am missing the basic understanding of each which is making it impossible to gain an advanced understanding. Futhermore, I don't understand how, if at all, the two are related. So I guess is what I am asking is if some one can break it down? Thanks in advance.
-Jason

[Diego Dangers.]

Think of electricity as a pipe with water. Amperage is the water that flows through the pipe. Voltage is the amount of force needed to move the pressure through the pipe.


The two are directly related, and it's quite simple to find out how much is need. You can use ohms law and throw in the pipe comparison again.


I | R
-----
E

i=intensity / amps
r = load / resistance
e = energy / volts

volts (e) are amps (i) multiplied by resistance (r) e = i x r
resistance (r) is amps (i) divided by volts (e) r = e / i
amps (i) are volts (e) divided by (r) i = e / r

edit: i mentioned everything backwards. my bad, it has been a long night. it's fixed though

[Ralgha]

Originally Posted by Diego Dangers.

Think of electricity as a pipe with water. Voltage is the water that flows through the pipe. Amperage is the amount of force needed to move the pressure through the pipe.


The two are directly related, and it's quite simple to find out how much is need. You can use ohms law and throw in the pipe comparison again.


I | R
-----
E

i=intensity / amps
r = load / resistance
e = energy / volts

volts (e) are amps (i) divided by resistance (r) e = i / r
resistance (r) is amps (i) multiplie by volts (e) r = i x e
amps (i) are volts (e) multiplied by (r) i = r x e

The pipe analogy is a good one, except you got it backwards. Water flow is current (amps), and pressure is volts.

Amps are a measure of current, which is a movement of charge, volts are a measure of electrical potential difference between two points, which is the amount of energy required to move charge.

Ohm's law is represented as V = I*R. V = volts, I = current, R = resistance. I don't know where you got E from, it's not used to symbolize voltage, ever.

[Diego Dangers.]

Originally Posted by Ralgha

The pipe analogy is a good one, except you got it backwards. Water flow is current (amps), and pressure is volts.

err. yeah, my bad.

I don't know where you got E from, it's not used to symbolize voltage, ever.

I have no idea where you got that it is never expressed as E. It very much is expressed as E or V. According to my NATEF textbook, thought it may not be about working on aircraft, it is still expressed as E in the 'magic triangle'.

Quantity Symbol Unit Sign Voltage V or E volt V Current I ampere (amp) A Resistance R ohm Ω Power P watt W

[Tworotor7]

Originally Posted by Diego Dangers.

err. yeah, my bad.



I have no idea where you got that it is never expressed as E. It very much is expressed as E or V. According to my NATEF textbook, thought it may not be about working on aircraft, it is still expressed as E in the 'magic triangle'.

Quantity Symbol Unit Sign Voltage V or E volt V Current I ampere (amp) A Resistance R ohm Ω Power P watt W

Look at my man go! So proud..... lol

[will_fly_for_bandwith]

Originally Posted by Diego Dangers.

err. yeah, my bad.



I have no idea where you got that it is never expressed as E. It very much is expressed as E or V. According to my NATEF textbook, thought it may not be about working on aircraft, it is still expressed as E in the 'magic triangle'.

Quantity Symbol Unit Sign Voltage V or E volt V Current I ampere (amp) A Resistance R ohm Ω Power P watt W

E is short hand for EMF which is Electro Motive Force, an old school way of stating Volts. E=V

[Ralgha]

I should have elaborated on "E". "E" is not used for voltage, because "E" is already used to represent "electric field", which is a measure of volts per meter. "V" is representative of "point voltage" or "voltage drop" or "voltage across an impedance", which is what Ohm's law calculates. "E" is a vector, "V" is a scalar. With respect to Ohm's law, "E" is used in the complex form of Ohm's law, J = σ * E. J = current density, σ = conductivity, and E = electric field. In this equation, each variable is a vector.

[beretta01]

Pretty much what was said above. Amps are what do the damage or pop fuses. You can have as many volts as you want, but amperage is what really determines damage. Usually if the volts are high, the amount of amperes will be too. The water hose comparison is the easiest way to understand the two.

[Cptnchia]

The way I learned it was "Amps are what kill you, not volts."

[Number1atNumber2]

I was taught the beer keg method:

The amount of beer in the keg is the volts. Put a hole in the side and that's the amps, bigger hole = bigger amps

[SteveC]

Another analogy is the water fall. Volts is the height of the water fall, amps is how much water is coming over the lip.