What is the difference between current and voltage?

Current and voltage are closely related properties of a circuit, one is caused by the other. What we refer to as voltage is in reality just a difference in charges, so, a difference in the amount of electrons between two places, say, two ends of a battery. Since electrons repel eachother, they will always try to flow to the place where there's less of them - this is current.

A good way to think of this is the "water analogy". We can think of a battery with voltage as one big water tank with high pressure and another with low pressure. When the two are connected, water will flow, with a bigger pipe corresponding to more water - just like a lower resistance corresponds to a higher current.

Answered by Brian C. Physics tutor

2313 Views

See similar Physics GCSE tutors

Related Physics GCSE answers

All answers ▸

A boy kicks a ball and it is accelerated uniformly from rest so that after 10 seconds it has achieved a speed of 15m/s. Find the ball's acceleration.


If 10 N is required to move an object 2m, what is the work done?


What is the difference between reflection, refraction and diffraction?


Explain the process of nuclear fusion in the Sun.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo
Cookie Preferences