What's the difference between Potential Difference and Electromotive Force

Although both are measured in volts, there is a subtle difference in their respective definition. Electromotive Force is the transfer of chemical energy in a battery (multiple single cells) into electrical energy per unit charge. Potential Difference is the transfer of electrical energy to other forms per unit charge, like kinetic in a motor or to hear in a heating element.
Both can be worked out numerically by computing V=W/Q

JJ

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

Use the kinetic theory of gases to explain why the pressure inside a container increases when the temperature of the air inside it rises. Assume that the volume of the container remains constant.


A spacecraft needs to be slowed down from a speed of 96m/s to 8.2m/s. This can be done by firing an object as the spacecraft is moving. If the mass of the spacecraft is 6730kg and the object is 50kg, calculate the velocity of the ejected object.


What velocity should your boat have if you want to cross a 72m wide river in 6s by the shortest distance, with a 5 m/s downstream current?


A mass, m, is resting on a slope being slowly tilted upwards from horizontal. The static friction co-efficient is 0.3 and the dynamic friction co-efficient is 0.2: at what angle will the mass begin to slip?