1) What does the electric potential at a point exactly mean? My teacher tells me
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Question
1) What does the electric potential at a point exactly mean? My teacher tells me that current flows from higher potential to lower potential but when I ask him the reason, he fails to give me a convincing answer.
2) And can anyone explain how electric potential is related to potential energy & work done?
3) Further, when I referred a Physics textbook it said that since Coulomb's force & Gravitational force are mathematically similar, electric potential is a charge's equivalent of a the potential energy of mass. Hence I related Electric potential to the potential energy of a ball for example. A ball falls from a height to the ground because of Potential energy- so similarly, current flows from higher to lower potential. Is this analogy correct?
Even if the above analogy is correct, I still cannot understand why current flows between two electrodes of an electrochemical cell. The only explanation my teacher offers is that there is a potential difference & thus current flows from higher to lower potential. This explanation is not of any help since I don't understand what potential is in the first place!
4) If the analogy is valid, then how do the electrons in the Electrochemical cell move without an electric field to impart the electric potential energy? (as in gravitational energy where the potential energy is present only if gravitational force is present? In space, no object of any mass has weight)
Explanation / Answer
I would advice you to read the wikipedia article on electrochemical cells.
You will see that there, chemical energy is transformed to electrical energy, i.e. a collective electric field is generated from all the molecules participating in the chemical reaction. Thus the analogy with the gravitational field is valid.
The energy comes from the chemical action, and in rechargeable batteries from the charging circuit. A charged battery has a potential difference between its two poles so that when a light bulb, for example, is introduced, the electrons in the wires move towards the least potential and on the way light the bulb because of the resistance they encounter.
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