![]() At the instant that we make a loop for the electrons to travel through, a few things are happening with these forces simultaneously. If we push electrons from 'V0' through the circuit to node 'V2', we end up in the same situation as case 1, trying to push electrons into more electrons! This is why electrons don't want to flow if there is not a closed loop, because they'll just end up running into electrons that aren't moving somewhere else.Ĭase 3: Both sets of terminals are connected, (if there's a closed loop for the electrons to flow through). ![]() (But the total system would maintain the same total voltage, since we did nothing to the system except move electrons around.) So instead of the electrons forcing their way closer to more electrons, they just sit there and do nothing.Ĭase 2: The outer terminals, nodes 'V0' and 'V2', are connected but the inner two are not connected. If we magically could though, we would be increasing the electrical potential difference, or voltage, in the right battery and decreasing it in the left. We know that electrons repel each other so they don't like to do that. If we try to imagine moving electrons from the left battery to the right battery via node 'V1', we are actually pushing electrons CLOSER TOGETHER. Now to get to the heart of your question, basically why can't the middle two parts simply intermingle at node 'V1'? I'll use 3 different cases to help explain We also need to keep in mind that positive charges aren't really there, so the last diagram is a little more accurate still, where there are simply electrons and a lack of electrons (the electrical potential difference).Ĭase 1: Assume that the batteries are connected via node 'V1', but not from 'V0' to 'V2'. So with two batteries, you can see that there are actually two (basically) equal forces, two sets of 1.5 V difference. The electrons want to disperse evenly through the battery, but cannot pass through the middle, and thus must take the long way around to get to the other side. So why do the voltages add? Batteries are a container of voltage or electrical potential difference, and the potential force is created by a electron rich side separated from an electron deficit side. Now, looking at the second battery, the negative terminal is connected to node 'V1', and if the battery is to maintain its 1.5 V difference across terminals, we can add 1.5 V (battery) to the 1.5 V (at node 'V1') to get the voltage at node 'V2', which turns out to be 3 V, as stated in Olin Lathrop's answer. So looking at node 'V1' we know that the battery will try to maintain a 1.5 V potential difference, and we know its negative terminal is 0 V, so the positive terminal, or node 'V1', must be 1.5 V. So in the first part of the diagram I threw together, node 'V0' is going to be my reference node which due to the ground symbol means it will be 0 V. So the batteries try to maintain a voltage (potential difference) of 1.5 V across the terminals. Olin Lathrop is using the common analogy between fluid and electric systems, which is why he calls it a "pressure", because pressure is a type of fluid force, but for this example it might be easier to understand if I keep it in electrical terms. Voltage is an electrical potential difference, which is essentially a force caused by electrons wanting to evenly distribute in a material since the electrons repel each other. I apparently cannot post images, so I apologize but you'll have to open this link in a new window to see my atrocious diagrams :) Diagrams -> ĮDIT: Here are the diagrams, sorry about my lack of artistic skills, haha.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |