Does electrical energy always flow from an area of low potential to an area of high potential?

Answer 1

Analogous to a ball rolling down a hill due to a difference in gravitational potential, the cell potential (denoted Eº or Eo) drives the electron flow in an electrochemical cell.

Answer 2

­In the scientific world, the idea of current is regarded as positively charged particles moving from the positive to the negative. This is what we call conventional current. However, we also consider negative particles moving from the negative to the positive to have the same effect.

In metal conductors, such as copper wire, the positive particles (nuclei) cannot move while the negative particles (electrons) can. Thus, in a situation where current is flowing from the positive terminal of a battery to the negative terminal (through a wire) electrons are flowing opposite to the direction of the current, from negative to positive.

This is caused by a chemical reaction inside the battery itself. The flow of electrons through the wire continues the reaction. Because the reaction does not happen while the electrons are not flowing, batteries can be stored for long periods of time without losing their power.

Answer 3

Current defined as Positive charge flow , flows from higher potential to the lower.

Current defined as electron flow, flows from lower potential to higher.

In general Potential and Current are defined by positive charge.

Answer 4

Before the atomic theory was produced, electric charge was assumed to flow as a current from the positive terminal to the negative terminal of a power source.

Now we know that current flow consists of electrons, which are negatively charged, and in fact they flow from the negative terminal to the positive. But the original convention has been retained. When a 1 amp current flows through a resistor for 1 second, it is conventionally described as 1 coulomb of charge having moved from the positive end to the negative end. At the atomic level, in fact a large number of electrons (about 6 x 1018) has moved the other way (sorry about the lack of a superscripted number since the font was changed.).

In fact there is actually only one potential: that is, the potential between two different quantities of charge. But i think i see what you may be getting at. If you have, let's say a 10V battery and a 5V battery, which way does the charge move? The answer is: that depends on how you connect them.

But before we get into that, a word on "Sign Convention". We have, thanks to such minds as Benjamin Franklin, the establishment of a Charge (or Voltage) Sign Convention. It has been decided, through convention (and tradition), to establish a charge source (relative to some other charge source) that has fewer electrons as having a "positive charge" and source of "excess" electrons as having a "negative charge". By extension of that convention, we have another known as the Direction of Current Flow Convention. This convention says that current flows from the positive charge source to the negative.

So, if a "positive" charge is lacking electrons, then what on earth could be coming out of it? The answer is: nothing. The convention turns out to be the opposite of reality. If "charge" or "current" flow is, in reality, the flow of electrons, then it stands to reason that they flow out of or away from the electron source.

But when we are talking about potentials and their signs and magnitudes, what do we mean? With potentials you must always have a reference to something. In the case of a single battery, the idea is easy: the positive terminal is positive with reference to the negative terminal. You can't say that one terminal has a potential and the other doesn't; there is a voltage potential between them. The reason is because internally there is a barrier that electrons can't cross. There are chemicals inside that during a reaction, create either an excess of electrons or lack of electrons, so one side gains a lack of electrons (therefore a positive charge), and the other gains an excess of electrons (a negative charge). Because there is a difference in charge, there exists a voltage potential between them.

When we are talking about more than one battery or other source of electric energy, things get tricky. Why don't batteries spark when you touch the negative of one to the positive of another? The reason is because, in reality both positive and negative terminals can be a source of either type of charge. When you touch the terminals together (and hold them together), the electrons distribute evenly into both terminals and the potential between them (obviously, since they are touching) is zero. But something interesting happens: let's say you have two 1.5V AA batteries; if the voltage is 1.5V across either battery's terminals, and you connect them in series as described above (touch one's negative to the other's positive), that "node" is now at zero potential relative to either battery's open terminal. You have created a zero-volt reference for both the open positive and negative terminal. Now the interesting part: if the open positive is +1.5 Volts (because we know it to be a positive charge source) referenced to the zero-volt node and the open negative is -1.5V referenced to the same zero-volt node, what is the potential difference between them? That's right: 3 Volts. But a common mistake is to say that either terminal is a 1.5 Volt terminal. We can only say that there is a 3-volt potential between them.

I realize this gives probably a lot more information you were looking for, but to answer your question, when talking about about "high" and "low" potential simultaneously with current or charge flow, there must exist a current path between them and therefore only one voltage potential. But to answer the heart of your question, try this on for size: electrons flow (though there is a school of thought in physics that will tell you that electrons don't actually "flow") from (or "out of") their source, which, by convention, is either the negative supply terminal or, when two supplies are connected together (by creating a "common" zero-volt reference between them), they flow out of what was previously the "lower potential"; just know that it was only a lower potential when it was a separate, free-standing power source. When it was connected with a second source, one of its terminals simply became the "sink" for the conventional current to flow into, or electrons to flow out of.

The original answer confuses 'potential' with 'potential difference' (or 'voltage').

Potential (expressed in volts) exists at a given point, measured with respect to a point of reference elsewhere in the same circuit. The potential of this point, therefore, can vary depending where the point of reference is taken. Potential is also assigned a sign (positive or negative) that can vary according to the point of reference. In fact, the potential at a particular point may be negative or positive as its polarity depends entirely on the point of reference.

Potential Difference (also called 'voltage'), on the other hand is simply the difference between the potential at any given point and the potential of the point of reference, and is not assigned any sign. Note that 'voltage' is another word for 'potential difference', NOT 'potential'.

For example, the positive terminal of a 12-V battery has a potential of +12 V measured with respect to its negative terminal, whereas its negative terminal has a potential of -12 V measured with respect to its positive terminal. However the potential difference between the terminals is simply 12 V (no sign).

It's also important to understand that the terms 'positive' and 'negative' are relative, not absolute. To say that something that is positive 'lacks electrons' is incorrect. For example, the zinc plate of a Simple Cell develops a negative potential of about 0.7 V, whereas its copper plate also develops a negative potential, but it is 'less negative' than the zinc plate, so we say that the copper plate is 'positive with respect to' the zinc plate. In other words, the 'positive' copper plate also has an 'excess of electrons', but has far less electrons than the zinc plate.

Conventionally, 'high' potentials are considered to be positive, whereas 'low' potentials are considered to be negative. So 'conventional current' does, indeed, flow from a high potential to a low potential.

However, this convention was established long before the true nature of electric current was known. We now know, of course, that in metal conductors an electric current is actually movement of free electrons, which move from negative to positive. This doesn't conform with the convention of a positive potential being high and a negative potential being low (in fact, it reverses that convention!) which, amongst other reasons, is why 'conventional flow' continues in use these days.

Answer 5

Positive charges will flow from a more positive potential, to a more negative potential. With negative charges, it is the other way round. A conventional current is defined as the equivalent of a flow of positive charges, so it, too, will move toward a more negative potential.

Answer 6

gravitational potential energy is to g it up with Emma in mrs crittendens class and

Answer 7

Charges naturally flow from higher electric potential to lower electric potential. The flow of electrons, on the other hand, is the opposite.

Answer 8

no