What Does Voltage Measure

Voltage v is the potential for energy to move and is analogous to water pressure.

What does voltage measure. In brief voltage pressure and it is measured in volts v. Voltage is the pressure from an electrical circuit s power source that pushes charged electrons current through a conducting loop enabling them to do work such as illuminating a light. To measure voltage on an electronic circuit you don t have to insert the meter into the circuit. The term recognizes italian physicist alessandro volta 1745 1827 inventor of the voltaic pile the forerunner of today s household battery.

Voltage measures the relative amount of energy that will be carried by the electrical charge in a circuit it is expressed by the equation v w q where w is the energy in joules and q is the. This is known as the water flow analogy which is sometimes used to explain electric circuits by comparing them with a closed system of water filled pipes or water circuit that is pressurized by a pump. Voltage electric potential difference electric pressure or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points which in a static electric field is defined as the work needed per unit of charge to move a test charge between the two points. For example you can.

When you do the multimeter displays the voltage that exists between those two points.