I feel like this is a dumb question but i’m still gonna ask
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Volts are a measure of how much the electricity is *trying* to move. More volts means more *potential* energy.
Watts is the actual energy. A battery is always around the same voltage, but if you let more electricity flow you get more energy out, and so you have higher wattage.
Imagine a water pipe with an impeller (fan) in it to generate electricity.
The water in the pipe is the current (amps).
The water pressure (the force of the water moving) is volts.
The combined power of the current and volts spinning the impeller is the energy (watts).
The diameter of the pipe, which determines the amount of current that can fit in it is the resistance (ohms).
In any electrical circuit, the voltage, resistance, current, and wattage are all interconnected. If you change one, all of the others change as well.
Watts is a unit of power. How much energy is released in a second.
Voltage is a potential amount of energy – per unit charge. Think of this as a “height”
Lets work with an analogy here, You want to power a device using falling water. The voltage is the height of the water fall. The amount of energy you can transfer depends on how much water you put at the top. This is the ‘size’ of the battery used. A bucket isn’t much, but a whole pool is. To get the energy you multiply the amount of water by the height. In voltage you multiply the amount of charge, by the voltage.
The reason we use voltage instead of energy is the total amount of energy simply depends on the battery we use. If our battery isn’t large, we can only run the circuit for a short time.
But, if the voltage is to low, we don’t get enough energy out of each of the electrons to actual push through the circuit mechanisms.
wattage, or Power is how quickly you transfer this energy. Do you simply drop it straight down the cliff, or let it flow down a gentle slope? Release it all at once, or restrict it so it takes time.
So a device designed to lift an object may have charge, voltage and power. You need enough voltage to actually run the mechanisms, so you get enough energy out of each electron to move the circuits. Changing the watts, alters the power. The object gets lifted quickly or over a long time. If our battery is small we can run the device for a few minutes. If it’s large we can run it for longer.
Watts and volts are units of measurement that are used to describe different aspects of electrical power. Watts are a measure of the rate at which electricity is used, or the rate at which electrical energy is converted into another form of energy, such as light or heat. Volts, on the other hand, are a measure of the electrical potential difference between two points in a circuit. In other words, volts is a measure of the force that drives the flow of electric current in a circuit.
It isn’t a difference, it’s a ratio.
Watts is a unit of power.
Volts is a unit of electric potential.
Amperes is a unit of charge flux.
P = I * V
In short, power is the product of current AND voltage.
We need to be a little bit careful, because this relationship is only true in many senses when dealing with DC. AC works a bit differently since their is a real and imaginary (reactive) power component associated with a circuit (unless it is a purely resistive device).
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