ELECTRICAL VOLTAGE

Electrical work is done by the action of Coulomb forces from one set of charges on other electrical
charge as it moves in their presence. An important quantity in electrical circuit analysis is the work
done per unit charge moved between two points. Together with knowledge of the electrical current
(from which the total amount of charge transported in a given period of time can be determined) the
work per unit charge transported characterizes the energy performance of the circuit. Work done per
unit charge transported between two points is called the voltage difference between the two points. It is
essential to appreciate that a transport of charge between two points is implicit in the meaning of
'voltage'. Work is the application of a force over a distance. This is so even if the two points are
physically the same point, e.g., the charge is moved away from and then back to the same point. Even
so the notion of a charge displacement over a distance is involved.
Because of its importance it is worth emphasizing yet again that the concept of work involves a force
applied over a distance. Work per unit charge refers to a charge transport between two points, and there
is no meaning to an expression such as 'work at a point'. As it happens however it is quite common in
practice to refer colloquially to the voltage 'at a point'. But without exception this is done after a prior
understanding that what is actually meant is the voltage difference between the specified point and
another implied reference point previously agreed upon. Jargon aside voltage difference is not some
entirely new concept but rather the familiar concept of mechanical work as applied to the electrical force
acting on an electrically charged object.
The Coulomb force is an inverse square-law force, i.e.; the force between electrical charges varies
inversely as the square of the distance separating the charges. It is an important property of such force
laws that the net work done in moving between two points is independent of the path taken between the
two points. Details of the work done in transit are path-dependent, but the overall result is that the same
amount of work is done in moving between two points whatever the specific path taken. This path
independence is particularly important because it says something (although not everything) which is not
dependent on geometric detail. We do not need a literal picture of an electric circuit in order to
determine important properties of the circuit. Thus the sketch to the
right is sufficient to convey the information that there is an electrical
connection between points A and B; the geometrical shape of the
curve is not electrically significant. Any other curve connecting A
and B conveys the same information. Later we shall insert an icon
onto the connection curve to indicate certain electrical aspects of the
connection. It is often generally necessary for some purposes to distinguish different paths (with
different icons) between A and B. Nevertheless whatever the specific physical character of the
connection path the voltage difference between the end-points is the same for any and all paths
connecting them.
We have need of a convention by which to describe the voltage difference between two points. There
are two aspects of the electrical work that must be included in a description. One is the amount of work
done; obviously it is of some importance whether a little bit of work is involved or whether a great deal
of work is involved. Equally important is the matter of whether work is being done by the moving
electricity against forces from other charges as it moves, or whether work is being done on the electricity
by other charges to force it to move. A gravitational analogy might be the act of 'pressing' weights. It
certainly makes a difference if you have to lift the weight from the floor over your shoulders as
compared to returning the weight to the floor after lifting it. The amount of work involved theoretically
is the same for either case. In the one case work is done against the force of gravity, and in the other
gravity does the work. If you were holding the weights the distinction would be quite evident.
Circuits Electrical Voltage

M H Miller

One complication in the description of electrical work is that quite often the amount of work and
whether it is done on or by the moving electricity is not known initially; that information is obtained
from an appropriate circuit analysis in which the description is used. It follows then that the form of the
description can not depend on the specifics of the work being described. As is the case with a current
description here also it is necessary to distinguish between what is being described and the manner in
which the description is made.
An earlier sketch, repeated to the right, indicates an electrical path connecting points A and B. The
geometrical details of the path are suppressed, i.e., the curve only represents a connection and is not the
connecting path itself. The alphabetic character V (to honor the Italian physicist Volta) is a common
symbol used to represent a voltage difference. The magnitude of the value assigned to V is the amount
of work involved in a unit charge transport between A and B.
Indicating whether work is done by or on the charge is a bit more
involved. First it is necessary to distinguish a traversal of the
connection from A to B from the converse transversal B to A. The
most common means for making the distinction is to assign different
markers to the two ends of the connection; '+' and '-' signs are used
most often. The assignment of these end markers to one or the other end of the connection is completely
arbitrary. They have no arithmetic meaning; they simply are convenient well-known distinguishable
symbols.
Associated with the assignment of the end markers are some common colloquialisms. The voltage
difference is referred to as a 'drop' going from '+' to '-', and it is a 'rise' going from '-' to '+'. This jargon I
suspect is based on the feeling that '+' is in some sense higher than '-'. It is regularly used as a
convenient contraction for unwieldy phrasing, for example, instead of 'voltage difference from the '+'
end of the connection to the '-' end of the connection'; one simply refers to the 'voltage drop'. Similarly
for 'voltage rise'. Note that use of these colloquialisms requires or presumes a prior assignment of the
signs. There is no particular physical significance to the use of 'voltage drop' or 'voltage rise'; these
colloquialisms simply indicate a polarity in a conventional manner.
From basic physics it can be determined that electrical work is done by the charge involved with a +
current flowing through a + voltage drop, and work is done on the charge if the current flows through a
voltage rise. As noted several times before one must be very careful here to distinguish between the
arbitrary choice allowed for the means of describing voltage difference and current, and specific values
for a voltage or a current in a particular circuit. The voltage polarity signs can be assigned arbitrarily,
and the current polarity arrow direction chosen arbitrarily, because these choices do not declare specific
values either for the voltage difference or for the current. Such values will depend on the physical
properties of the circuit path ('branch') between A and B, and also the physical properties of all the other
branches comprising the complete circuit. All that is involved here is the means for referring to and
describing (eventually) the branch current and voltage.
It is convenient before continuing further to introduce the concept of electrical power. In general power
is simply the rate of doing work; 'electrical ' power simply refers to the rate at which work is done by
electrical forces. If V is the work done per unit of charge transported across a branch, and if I is the rate
of charge transport though that branch then
VI = (work/charge)(charge/time) = power

Circuits Electrical Voltage

M H Miller

The product of VI is the electrical power, the work done per unit time, in the charge transport. The
question as whether the power corresponds to work done by or on the charge transported turns out to be
resolvable very easily. If voltage and current polarity references are
applied and used as illustrated in the figure to the left then the question
of whether the work involved is done by or on the charge is resolved
automatically by the sign of the product of the voltage drop and the
current. All this can be worked out fairly easily from basic principles by
considering the movement of a test charge in a Coulomb electric force
field. However here all we do is assert (and apply) the conclusion.
Since they do not indicate actual voltage and current polarities the polarity markers can be chosen
arbitrarily and independently if desired. But the arbitrary nature of the choice allows for a convenient
choice to be made. If a choice of relative polarities is made as shown in the figure, i.e., the current
arrow is directed from + to -, then a positive VI product means work is being provided by the current
and a negative product means work is being exerted on the current.
This simplification is not automatic; it comes about because the opportunity afforded by an
arbitrarychoice option is not wasted by actually making an arbitrary choice. Instead this freedom is
used constructively to provide a simplification in the analysis procedure. For future discussion we shall
always use the convention noted.
Let us return to the important property of the Coulomb force that was asserted previously. The net work
done in transporting a charge between two points is independent of the path between the two points.
Details of the work done along one path differ in general from those along another path, but the net work
over the entire path depends only on the start and end points. This path independence of the work
involved with a charge transport is the content of a very important circuit theorem called Kirchoff's
Voltage Law, or KVL for short. In generalized form the theorem simply states that the net work
involved with a charge transport depends only on the beginning and ending points of the transport. The
cumulative effect of the details of the work done over a specific path always is such as to make the net
overall result path-independent.
Less formally KVL states that the net voltage drop (or equivalently net voltage rise if you prefer)
between any two points is the same whatever the path taken between the points. If VAB is the voltage
drop from A to B, VBC is the voltage drop from B to C, and VAC is the voltage drop from A to C then
KVL asserts
VAC = VAB + VBC
Similarly if a different path between A and C, through node D, is taken
VAC = VAD + VDC
It is worth emphasizing that it does not follow that VAB = VAD and VBC = VDC.
An important variant statement of this theorem states that the sum of the voltage drops (or voltage rises)
around a closed path is zero; a closed path is one for which the start and end points are the same. Note
that this does not preclude work being done along the way; it only says that as much work is done on the
charge as is done by the charge in the completed round trip. (If this closed loop condition were not true
then the work done in moving between two points would depend on whether the path used involved a
closed loop or not, i.e., it would not be path-independent.)
A simple but important special case is the loop indicated by the equation
VA->B + VB->A = 0
Circuits Electrical Voltage

M H Miller

It follows that VA->B = - VB->A, i.e., if work is done on the charge moving from A to B then an equal
amount of work is done by the charge for the opposite transit, and vice versa.
KVL and KCL (discussed earlier) are two of the three tools of basic electric circuit analysis. Like KCL
the importance of KVL is that it enables general conclusions to be drawn about a circuit without
requiring specific knowledge of the details of that circuit. It is not necessary, for example, to know the
particular electrical components used in a circuit to apply either KCL or KVL. Clearly however
independence of circuit component details means these two theorems are not sufficient to complete a
circuit analysis. Details of what happens in a circuit depend in general on its specific physical
constitution, i.e., different circuits will have different properties depending on the electrical components
with which they are assembled. The third 'tool' needed to provide necessary and sufficient means to
perform a circuit analysis is knowledge of the specific composition of a circuit, i.e., the circuit
components.

Circuits Electrical Voltage

M H Miller