There’s a rock on the ground. If you lifted it and let go, it would pick up speed as it fell.
This rock clearly has more energy when lifted than when it is on the ground. We call this energy that comes from its location “potential energy”.
Gravity isn’t the only source of potential energy. Magnets snap together, so they must also have potential energy.
Electrons are attracted to protons and repelled by other electrons, so they must also have some form of potential energy. However, there are a *lot* of electrons and protons floating around, so this kind of potential energy is a lot less simple than gravity.
What we can say pretty easily is that an electron wants to fall towards a lower potential energy. An electron will move from a low potential to a high potential (since electrons have negative charge, some of this comes out backwards, but moving to a “positive potential” is still a lower *potential energy*.
Voltage is what we call this electrical potential. It is a measurement of how much energy an electron releases as it moves between two spots. This is why you always need to measure two spots to find a voltage – you’re comparing them.
EMF is more or less the same thing. I don’t think this distinction is worth touching on for an ELI5.
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