potential difference - Explanation

A quantity in physics, often called voltage; symbol U, units V (volt). A potential difference is said to exist between two points if work must be done against an electric field to carry a charge from one point to the other. A potential difference divided by the distance between the two points gives the strength of the electric field between the points. The potential difference between the terminals of a battery indicates the battery's ability to drive current around a circuit.

In physics, the potential difference is a quantity related to the amount of energy that would be required to move an object from one place to another against various types of forces. Only changes in potential or potential energy (not the absolute values) can ever be measured.

Explanation

Potential difference is the difference in some quantity between two points in a conservative vector field of that quantity.

In electrical engineering, electrical potential difference is the voltage present between two points, or the voltage drop transversely over an impedance (from one extremity to another). It is related to the energy that would be required to move a unit of electrical charge from one point to the other against the electrostatic field that is present. Unit: joules per coulomb = volt In mechanics, the gravitational potential difference between two points on Earth is related to the energy that would be required to move a unit mass from one point to the other against the Earth's gravitational field.