I’m reading a book that covers the basics of electric current, resistance, and voltage. They go on to explain ohms law, which is almost the same as watts law? So it leads me to believe that they are interchangeable terms? (Which I’m assuming they aren’t)
Is it that watts are used to measure power output vs ohms are used to measure demand of power?
I’m confused. Thanks!
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Ohm is resistance. A thin wire has a lot of Ohms, wich means applying a given voltage only very little current will flow. Ohm is how hard it is to make current flow.
Watt is power (energy per second), so voltage times current. While Ohm depends on the device Watt depends on how your operate it. Watt is how much work is being done at the moment.
In some cases they can be related. For a constant current the energy loss in Watt is proportional to the resistance in Ohm (P=I²*R). That is the kind of Watt you want to avoid though.
Resistance is how hard it is to push an electron through something. Watts is a measure of power; that is the rate at which you’re consuming energy. It is measured by multiplying current times voltage.
The Ohm is a measure of resistance. Watts are volts * amps, which is roughly the speed times the volume of current at a point. Watts are a measure of work done.
[edit] and looking at the relationship another way, resistance refers to the amount of work (watts) needed to induce an electric current. But the ohm scale does not map to volt amps (watts) as it refers to the object doing the conducting, not the object inducing the current/doing the work.
If you think of electricity as water through a garden hose, it actually makes it easier to understand.
Resistance, which is measured in ohms, is how thin or restrictive the hose is.
Energy, which is measured in volts, is the pressure of the water.
Current, which is measured in amps, is how fast the water is flowing.
Power, which is measured in watts, is what the water is doing at the end of the hose such as running a sprinkler, which is the mechanical result of all of the water. Power is the result of the pressure times the flow rate.
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