I’ve tried looking it up on Google but it’s all way too technical (At least for my understanding, yes I’m slow).
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If electricity is water, and that water is flowing through a pipe, then voltage is the width of the pipe and current (Amps) is the speed of the water flow (literally the current). Wattage, or power, is the overall volume of water (voltage multiplied by current).
So you could have a wide pipe (say 100V) with water flowing slowly (say 1A) through it, which would be 100W, or a much narrower pipe (12V) with water flowing so quickly through it (10A) that it actually provides more power overall (120W), all depending on the requirements of the device you’re powering.
If electricity is water, and that water is flowing through a pipe, then voltage is the width of the pipe and current (Amps) is the speed of the water flow (literally the current). Wattage, or power, is the overall volume of water (voltage multiplied by current).
So you could have a wide pipe (say 100V) with water flowing slowly (say 1A) through it, which would be 100W, or a much narrower pipe (12V) with water flowing so quickly through it (10A) that it actually provides more power overall (120W), all depending on the requirements of the device you’re powering.
Volts is how hard the electricity is pushing.
Amps is how much electricity is flowing at any given instant moment
Watts is the amount of work that can be done by the electricity in a given second of time
Volts is how hard the electricity is pushing.
Amps is how much electricity is flowing at any given instant moment
Watts is the amount of work that can be done by the electricity in a given second of time
Volts is how hard the electricity is pushing.
Amps is how much electricity is flowing at any given instant moment
Watts is the amount of work that can be done by the electricity in a given second of time
The root concepts behind all this stuff are energy (measured in joules) and electric charge (measured in coulombs).
Once we have those, we can describe the items you ask about (using the simple case of DC)…
Amperes: this is a measure of the electrical *current* i.e. the rate of flow of electric charge. If a coulomb of charge flows past a point in one second, that’s a current of 1 Ampere.
Volts: this is the amount of energy carried per unit of electrical charge (volts = joules per coulomb).
Watts: this is electrical *power*, which is the rate of transfer of electrical energy. This is the amount of charge flowing per second, multiplied by the amount of energy carried per unit of charge. From the previous two definitions, this is the voltage times the amperage.
The root concepts behind all this stuff are energy (measured in joules) and electric charge (measured in coulombs).
Once we have those, we can describe the items you ask about (using the simple case of DC)…
Amperes: this is a measure of the electrical *current* i.e. the rate of flow of electric charge. If a coulomb of charge flows past a point in one second, that’s a current of 1 Ampere.
Volts: this is the amount of energy carried per unit of electrical charge (volts = joules per coulomb).
Watts: this is electrical *power*, which is the rate of transfer of electrical energy. This is the amount of charge flowing per second, multiplied by the amount of energy carried per unit of charge. From the previous two definitions, this is the voltage times the amperage.
The root concepts behind all this stuff are energy (measured in joules) and electric charge (measured in coulombs).
Once we have those, we can describe the items you ask about (using the simple case of DC)…
Amperes: this is a measure of the electrical *current* i.e. the rate of flow of electric charge. If a coulomb of charge flows past a point in one second, that’s a current of 1 Ampere.
Volts: this is the amount of energy carried per unit of electrical charge (volts = joules per coulomb).
Watts: this is electrical *power*, which is the rate of transfer of electrical energy. This is the amount of charge flowing per second, multiplied by the amount of energy carried per unit of charge. From the previous two definitions, this is the voltage times the amperage.
Freshmen ECE Student here, so I am obligated to provide an answer lol
Amperes or Amps or just A is a measure of current. What is current? It is the physical electrons moving in a wire. I could go into more detail about it, but the easiest way to think of it is that Current is the amount of electrons moving per second. 1 A = 1 Coulombs/sec = 6.24 * 10^18 Electrons per sec. This sounds like a lot, but you have to remember that electrons are tiny, and have a VERY small charge
Volts is a measure of Voltage, which is defined as the difference in electric potential. You can think of this as how willing current is to go to a specific device. This becomes easier to explain if you know the basics of Resistors, but I will assume you do not, so Ill try my best to explain it to you. The formula for Volts is J/C, which basically dissolves to, how much energy is 1 Coulomb providing? Remember a Coulomb is just a bunch of electrons, so a Volt is telling you how much energy is dissipated when current flows through. This energy is most commonly in the form of thermal energy
Watts is a measure of power. This basically means, who much power is being transferred per second to a device? Watts are defined as V * I, and if you substitutte the Values aforementioned in, you get J/C * C/S, which dissolves to J/S. A Way to think of this is, How many electrons are going to a device, and then how much power is dissipated from those electrons?
Ill throw in what a Resistor is because it makes things easier in a minute. A Resistor, or anything with Resistance, is a device that dissipates energy when current flows. Usually this is in the form of thermal energy, but often times it can be something else. Resistance is important, because it allows you to control what Voltage and what Current goes to a device. If you are really interested in the interaction between Volts, Amps, Resistance and Power, look into something called Ohm’s Law.
TL;DR:
I promised a fast answer, and in ECE a common metaphor we use is the water metaphor. Current, the physical electrons, can be represented by the individual particles or more specifically the rate at which the individual particles flow through a pipe. Volts can be the pressure of the water in the pipe, and how strongly its forces the water to go somewhere. Notice how you can have a low current but a high voltage (Low flow rate, but a high pressure of water), and vice versa, (a High flow rate, but a low pressure). Resistance is how wide or small the pipe is. Notice the correlation with a Low Resistance corresponding towards a lower flow rate but a higher pressure forming (Higher Resistance means less Current Flowing, but a higher Voltage across that device) and vice versa (Low Resistance means more Current flowing, and a lower voltage.)
Now imagine that I hooked the water int his pipe to a water wheel. Regardless of whatever configuration the Pipe Size, Pressure and Flow Rate are (Resistance, Voltage and Current), you can always measure the power, and therefore energy of the water from the water wheel. Notice how all the aforementioned factors come together to determine how fast the wheel turns, (how much power a device uses).
Sorry if this turned out a bit long, but this is the field I a studying in Uni, so I am excited to be able to explain this to someone interested!
Freshmen ECE Student here, so I am obligated to provide an answer lol
Amperes or Amps or just A is a measure of current. What is current? It is the physical electrons moving in a wire. I could go into more detail about it, but the easiest way to think of it is that Current is the amount of electrons moving per second. 1 A = 1 Coulombs/sec = 6.24 * 10^18 Electrons per sec. This sounds like a lot, but you have to remember that electrons are tiny, and have a VERY small charge
Volts is a measure of Voltage, which is defined as the difference in electric potential. You can think of this as how willing current is to go to a specific device. This becomes easier to explain if you know the basics of Resistors, but I will assume you do not, so Ill try my best to explain it to you. The formula for Volts is J/C, which basically dissolves to, how much energy is 1 Coulomb providing? Remember a Coulomb is just a bunch of electrons, so a Volt is telling you how much energy is dissipated when current flows through. This energy is most commonly in the form of thermal energy
Watts is a measure of power. This basically means, who much power is being transferred per second to a device? Watts are defined as V * I, and if you substitutte the Values aforementioned in, you get J/C * C/S, which dissolves to J/S. A Way to think of this is, How many electrons are going to a device, and then how much power is dissipated from those electrons?
Ill throw in what a Resistor is because it makes things easier in a minute. A Resistor, or anything with Resistance, is a device that dissipates energy when current flows. Usually this is in the form of thermal energy, but often times it can be something else. Resistance is important, because it allows you to control what Voltage and what Current goes to a device. If you are really interested in the interaction between Volts, Amps, Resistance and Power, look into something called Ohm’s Law.
TL;DR:
I promised a fast answer, and in ECE a common metaphor we use is the water metaphor. Current, the physical electrons, can be represented by the individual particles or more specifically the rate at which the individual particles flow through a pipe. Volts can be the pressure of the water in the pipe, and how strongly its forces the water to go somewhere. Notice how you can have a low current but a high voltage (Low flow rate, but a high pressure of water), and vice versa, (a High flow rate, but a low pressure). Resistance is how wide or small the pipe is. Notice the correlation with a Low Resistance corresponding towards a lower flow rate but a higher pressure forming (Higher Resistance means less Current Flowing, but a higher Voltage across that device) and vice versa (Low Resistance means more Current flowing, and a lower voltage.)
Now imagine that I hooked the water int his pipe to a water wheel. Regardless of whatever configuration the Pipe Size, Pressure and Flow Rate are (Resistance, Voltage and Current), you can always measure the power, and therefore energy of the water from the water wheel. Notice how all the aforementioned factors come together to determine how fast the wheel turns, (how much power a device uses).
Sorry if this turned out a bit long, but this is the field I a studying in Uni, so I am excited to be able to explain this to someone interested!
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