eli5: What is the difference between watts and volts?

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I feel like this is a dumb question but i’m still gonna ask

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Anonymous 0 Comments

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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