Basic electrical quantities: current, voltage, power

Voltage and current are the cornerstone concepts in electricity. We will create our first mental
models for these basic electrical quantities. We will also talk about power, which is what
happens when voltage and current act together.

Charge
The concept of electricity arises from an observation of nature, We observe a force between
objects, that, like gravity, acts at a distance. The source of this force has been given the name
charge. A very noticeable thing about electric force is that it is large, far greater than the
force of gravity. Unlike gravity, however, there are two types of electric charge. Opposite
types of charge attract, and like types of charge repel. Gravity has only one type: it only
attracts, never repels.

Conductors and insulators

Conductors are made of atoms whose outer, or valence, electrons have relatively weak bonds
to their nuclei, as shown in this fanciful image of a copper atom. When a bunch of metal
atoms are together, they gladly share their outer electrons with each other, creating a "swarm"
of electrons not associated with a particular nucleus. A very small electric force can make the
electron swarm move. Copper, gold, silver, and aluminum are good conductors. So is
saltwater.

There are also poor conductors. Tungstena metal used for light bulb filamentsand carbon
used in graphite form in pencilsare relatively poor conductors because their electrons are
less prone to move.
Insulators are materials whose outer electrons are tightly bound to their nuclei. Modest
electric forces are not able to pull these electrons free. When an electric force is applied, the
electron clouds around the atom stretch and deform in response to the force, but the electrons
do not depart. Glass, plastic, stone, and air are insulators. Even for insulators, though, electric
force can always be turned up high enough to rip electrons awaythis is called breakdown.
That's what is happening to air molecules when you see a spark.
Semiconductor materials fall between insulators and conductors. They usually act like
insulators, but we can make them act like conductors under certain circumstances. The most
well-known semiconductor material is Silicon (atomic number 14141414). Our ability to
finely control the insulating and conducting properties of silicon allows us to create modern
marvels like computers and mobile phones. The details of semiconductor operation are
governed by our understanding of quantum mechanics.
Current
Current is the flow of charge.
Charge flows in a current.
[Hide explanation.]
Notice the careful grammar here. Current is a flow. It is technically more correct to say
"charge flows" than "current flows". However, the common habit among engineers is to say,
"current flows". This is such an ingrained habit that it is perfectly acceptable engineering talk,
as long as you understand that it's actually charge that is moving.
Current is reported as the number of charges per unit time passing through a boundary.
Visualize placing a boundary all the way through a wire. Station yourself near the boundary
and count the number of charges passing by. Report how much charge passed through the
boundary in one second. We assign a positive sign to current corresponding to the direction a
positive charge would be moving.

Since current is the amount of charge passing through a boundary in a fixed amount of time,
it can be expressed mathematically using the following equation:
i=dqdti = \dfrac{dq}{dt}i=dtdqi, equals, start fraction, d, q, divided by, d, t, end fraction
[ What does the d mean?]
The dddd in dq/dt{dq}/{dt}dq/dtd, q, slash, d, t is notation from calculus, it means
differential.
You can think of dddd as meaning "a tiny change in ..."
For example, the expression dtdtdtd, t means a tiny change in time. When you see dddd in a
ratio, like dq/dtdq/dtdq/dtd, q, slash, d, t, it means, "a tiny change in qqqq (charge) for each
tiny change in tttt (time)." An expression like dq/dtdq/dtdq/dtd, q, slash, d, t is called a
derivative, and it is what you study in Differential Calculus.
In calculus, dddd represents a tiny amount of change, so small it becomes "infinitesimally
small". That is, it goes to zero. A little farther down in this article you will see change
indicated with a \Deltadelta symbol, as in h\Delta hhdelta, h is a change of height. We
use \Deltadelta to indicate a large finite change, like 1111 meter or 1111 second. And we
use dddd to indicate tiny zero-sized change.
That's current in a nutshell.

A few remarks on current

What carries current in metal? Since electrons are free to move about in metals, moving
electrons are what makes up the current in metals. The positive nuclei in metal atoms are
fixed in place and do not contribute to current. Even though electrons have a negative charge
and do almost all the work in most electric circuits, we still define a positive current as the
direction a positive charge would move. This is a very old historical convention.
Can current be carried by positive charges? Yes. There are lots of examples. Current is
carried by both positive and negative charges in saltwater: If we put ordinary table salt in
water, it becomes a good conductor. Table salt is sodium chloride, NaCl. The salt dissolves in
water, into free-floating Na+^++start superscript, plus, end superscript and Cl^-start
superscript, minus, end superscript ions. Both ions respond to electric force and move
through the saltwater solution, in opposite directions. In this case, the current is composed of
moving atoms, both positive and negative ions, not just loose electrons. Inside our bodies,
electrical currents are moving ions, both positive and negative. The same definition of current
works: count the number of charges passing by in a fixed amount of time.
What causes current? Charged objects move in response to electric and magnetic forces.
These forces come from electric and magnetic fields, which in turn come from the position
and motion of other charges.
What is the speed of current? We don't talk very often about the speed of current.
Answering the question, "How fast is the current flowing?" requires understanding of a
complex physical phenomenon and is not often relevant. Current usually isn't about meters
per second, it's about charge per second. More often, we answer the question "How much
current is flowing?" all the time.
How do we talk about current? When discussing current, terms like through and in make a
lot of sense. Current flows through a resistor; current flows in a wire. If you hear, "the current
across ...", it should sound odd.

Voltage
To get our initial toehold on the concept of voltage, let's look at an analogy:

Voltage resembles gravity

For a mass mmmm, a change of height hhhh corresponds to a change in potential energy,
U=mgh\Delta U = mg\Delta hU=mghdelta, U, equals, m, g, delta, h.
For a charged particle qqqq, a voltage VVVV corresponds to a change in potential energy,
U=qV\Delta U = qVU=qVdelta, U, equals, q, V.
Voltage in an electric circuit is analogous to the product of ghg\cdot \Delta hghg, dot,
delta, h. Where gggg is the acceleration due to gravity and h\Delta hhdelta, h is the change
of height.
A ball at the top of the hill rolls down. When it is halfway down, it has given up half of its
potential energy.
An electron at the top of a voltage "hill" travels "downhill" through wires and elements of a
circuit. It gives up its potential energy, doing work along the way. When the electron is
halfway down the hill, it has given up, or "dropped", half of its potential energy.
For both the ball and the electron, the trip down the hill happens spontaneously. The ball and
electron move towards a lower energy state all by themselves. On the trip down, there can be
things in the way of the ball, like trees or bears to bounce off. For electrons, we can guide
electrons using wires and make them flow through electronic components circuit design
and do interesting things along the way.
[Hide explanation.]

Why don't you describe voltage directly in electrical terms?

Voltage is a challenging concept. Many people have tried to give a simple description of
voltage in terms of the fundamental electrical forces. I have not come across a simple
description that offers that instant "Aha!" moment. Electricity is a marvelous and somewhat
mysterious force, so be patient, let the wonder hang around for a while.
The most common way to introduce voltage is by means of an analogy. This is valuable if the
analogy is strong, if it usefully mimics the underlying principle, and if it helps you predict
new things. The "voltage is like gravity" analogy in this article is not perfect, but it is among
the best. It is a good place to start.
[Hide explanation]

Straining the analogy

Charged particles differ from rolling balls in one very important way. Balls do not repel,
whereas charges with the same signan electron swarm in a wire, for examplestrongly
repel each other. The analogy to gravity strains when many charges are involved. A crowd of
balls does not behave the same as a crowd of electrons. Once you start dealing with many
charges, a good plan is to begin thinking about the behavior of charges in terms of the laws of
electricity instead of by analogy to gravity. A complete derivation of voltage is developed in
the tutorial on Electrostatics.
If you come across an analogy that improves your understanding, by all means, embrace it.
But don't love it too much, or too long.
[Hide explanation.]
The concept of current is simpler to understand compared to voltage. If voltage is puzzling,
do not be discouraged. Every electrical engineer I know started out the same, including me.
Voltage is a concept that takes time to make friends with.
I love how Professor Richard Feynman, the great physicist and educator from Cal Tech,
describes electricity in this 9-minute clip from a 1983 interview with the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC). Enjoy it when you have free time.
We can express the voltage between two points mathematically as the change of energy
experienced by a charge:
V=UqV = \dfrac{\Delta U}{q}V=qUV, equals, start fraction, delta, U, divided by, q, end
fraction
That's an intuitive description of voltage in a nutshell.

Power
Power is defined as the rate energy is transformed or transferred over time, measured in
joules/second, also known as watts. (1watt=1joule/second1 \,\text{watt} =
1\,\text{joule}/\text{second}1watt=1joule/second1, space, w, a, t, t, equals, 1, space, j, o, u, l,
e, slash, s, e, c, o, n, d)
power=dUdt\text{power} = \dfrac{\text dU}{\text dt}power=dtdUp, o, w, e, r, equals, start
fraction, d, U, divided by, d, t, end fraction
An electric circuit is capable of transferring power. Current is the rate of flow of charge, and
voltage measures the energy transferred per unit of charge. We can insert these definitions
into the equation for power:
power=dUdt=dUdqdqdt=vi\text{power} = \dfrac{\text dU}{\text dt} = \dfrac{\text dU}
{\text dq} \cdot \dfrac{\text dq}{\text dt} = v \,i power=dtdU=dqdUdtdq=vip, o, w, e, r,
equals, start fraction, d, U, divided by, d, t, end fraction, equals, start fraction, d, U, divided
by, d, q, end fraction, dot, start fraction, d, q, divided by, d, t, end fraction, equals, v, space, i
Electrical power is the product of voltage times current. in units of watts.

Summary
These mental models for current and voltage will get us started on all sorts of interesting
electric circuits.
If you want to reach beyond this intuitive description of voltage you can read this more
formal mathematical description of electric potential and voltage.