what are the purpose of voltage and current in a phone charger? How does it affect charging?
In: Technology
Voltage is the amount of force that the charger pushes each electron with, and current is the maximum number of electrons it can push (per second). Note that pushing without moving anything doesn’t actually use energy (think of leaning on a wall).
Generally we design things to expect a certain voltage and let the right amount of current through. Standard USB is 5V (always) and can go up to 2.1A.
Because of this design, the voltage has to match (at least within 0.5V or so) or otherwise something will blow up. The charger should be able to handle at least as much current as the device wants. With USB this is less of an issue because the device will charge slower if the charger can’t supply enough current. With older chargers it would overheat the charger.
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