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 ▸

Hydrogen has a single proton and a single electron. Find the electric potential at a distance of 0.50 * 10^(-10) (m) from the proton.


Describe and explain the first stages of the life cycle of a star before it reaches the main sequence.


Why are neutrinos hard to detect?


How would you calculate the vertical and horizontal components of the velocity of an object with an initial velocity of 15m/s which is travelling upwards at an angle of 30 degrees to the horizontal?