When using extensions cords I find that I feel like there is similar amount of electricity going through it as just plugging a cable into the wall without using an extension cable. When I charge my phone I get similar speeds using either, but surely an extension cord spilts the voltage?
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Split the voltage? The extension cord is not a transformer so it doesn’t change the voltage or amperage. It just transfers the power over additional distance.
If you’re talking about an extension cord that has multiple outlets or a power strip, the power supplied which is actually the *wattage* isn’t exactly split between the outlets all the time.
Say your phone charger uses a 20 Watts charger. Your outlet (in the U.S. at least) is capable of putting out 120 Volts at 10 Amps which is 1,200 W. The outlet as a whole has more than enough power or charge multiple devices, not just whatever two you might happen to plug directly into the outlet. This is why power strips work. You just can’t exceed the total for the wall outlet. Not a certain amount per power strip or extension outlet.
Also electrical power doesn’t diminish over distance with wiring. Not in any appreciable way for the consumer home use. Wireless charging has distance limits due to the extra middle man of magnetic fields for which do diminish in power rapidly with distance. But that’s another topic. Look up “magnetic induction.”
It gets a little complicated because the above example is sort of presuming you have only a single outlet on a circuit. Also ignoring heat build up, but for ELI5 purposes, it’ll do.
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