What is the difference between current and voltage?

Current and voltage are closely related properties of a circuit, one is caused by the other. What we refer to as voltage is in reality just a difference in charges, so, a difference in the amount of electrons between two places, say, two ends of a battery. Since electrons repel eachother, they will always try to flow to the place where there's less of them - this is current.

A good way to think of this is the "water analogy". We can think of a battery with voltage as one big water tank with high pressure and another with low pressure. When the two are connected, water will flow, with a bigger pipe corresponding to more water - just like a lower resistance corresponds to a higher current.

BC
Answered by Brian C. Physics tutor

3314 Views

See similar Physics GCSE tutors

Related Physics GCSE answers

All answers ▸

why is it that When there is a small droplet on a phone the pixels of the screen can be seen


What is the power dissipated by a 12 Ohm resistor when 2A of current run through it?


What is the current in a circuit?


What's the difference between distance and displacement


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning