So Which Is It? Amps Or Volts?

[2aBaC̶a̶]

Volts is the pressure. Amps is the flow rate or gallons per minute. Ohms is the weight of the load you're trying to move combined with line/orifice size

Is it though? maybe my brain is broken, i just cant see it like that.

typically voltage doesnt change. you have 120V, 208V, etc. It takes pressure to deliver that voltage consistently. if I change the resistance to deliver that voltage the amps change. In my brain its amps that are pushing that voltage like pressure and when I increase the resistance the amps have to increase to push that same voltage. the higher the resistance the higher the pressure it takes to push the volts.

when I think of it like water amps is pressure, Volts is like a set flow gpm. resistance is the size of orifice. if you shrink the orifice it requires more amps pressure to maintain the same flow gpm.

 

[Ronws]

My turn to subject myself to slings and arrows. The young man in the video is correct about the conditions of getting shocked. It is a combination of voltage, which is the push, current, which is the flow, and the resistance of the load to this. And where on your body you are struck and for how long. There are people who survive lightning strikes.

So, among other hings, I have also been doing electrical work (commercial, residential, some industrial, like work change orders at Miller Brewing in Fort Worth,) since 1983. I have the biggest license there is in Texas, short of actually being attached to a contractor license, which I have done before but that company did not work out.

I have taken 120 volts across the chest, in one hand and out the other. It hurt but I survived. 277 volts in a 4 square box above ceiling would knock me off the box because of how I approached wires. Electricity will make the muscles contract and so getting shocked would force my hand away from the wire and box.

Most guys did not get hurt by the actual shock. They would get hurt by being startled and jumping off the 12 foot ladder they were using.

Here is one of my favorite true stories. We were working on a brand new school in Rowlett back in the mid 90's. I was feeding #8 THHN for above ceiling frost biters to keep water pipes from freezing. Timmy was at the switch gear and panel box pulling with a metal fish tape. And no one was watching him. So a section of the fish tape touched the floor and a hot lug.

Timmy was not shocked but the fire flash rose up and burned him 1st and 2nd degree on his face and hands. Roger took him to the hospital. Boss Steve had us continue. I went back to pushing wire until it would not push at all. Went around a few turns and hollered to Steve, "Are you done?"

Steve said, "No, we're finished. Timmy's done."

Timmy spent a few weeks off and then came back to work.

I said, "Well, Timmy, you blew your face off and grew another one and you are still ugly."

He said, "I know."

Can you feel the love that was in the room?

 

[mtrmn]

Light switch circuit. 120v supplied through a breaker to the switch. When the switch is off even though you have 120v there is zero amps in that circuit because there's no flow. When you turn on the switch, the light bulb lights and there is flow (amperage). The light bulb provides the resistance (ohms) that keeps the flow (amps) from getting out of hand. If the circuit shorts to ground (bypasses the resistance provided by the lightbulb) then the amperage (flow) will become too great and trip the breaker or fuse. That's why breakers and fuses are rated in amps.

 

[Mike Islander]

although I would probably swap the amp and Volts. amps is like the pressure. if the resistance changes so does the pressure needed to push the volts.

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If you want to use water in a pipe analogy:

- Volts an exact analog of pressure, not amps. It's even called "electrical potential" and is formally defined as "electromotive force". Just like water pressure is hydrostatic force.
- Amps is the exact analog of current flow rate. It literally is defined as the "rate of flow of electrons", just like gpm of water is units of water that flows over time. Like water, the flow is called the current.
- Ohms is the resistance to electron flow, and is directly analogous to head loss in pipes, which is "frictional resistance".

 

[OkieMike]

To add:

1 amp is equal to 6.24x10-18 electrons flowing past a given point of a conductor in 1 second.

Whoever counted all those little bastards to arrive at that figure had some patience.

Mike

 

[memilanuk]

aka one coulomb