On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 12:19:13PM -0900, Ken Irving wrote: > On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 01:10:32PM -0600, lee wrote: > > On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 06:59:06PM +0000, Tzafrir Cohen wrote: > > > > > A voltmeter has two connectors and shows the potential differences > > > between them. > > > > > > This is unlike an Ampermeter that shows the current flowing through it. > > > > If you have a multimeter that can measure voltage or current, both > > modes are basically the same. The difference is only in where most of > > the current flows. > > They're the same internally in that even in current mode the meter is > measuring a voltage (the voltage drop between the meter's terminals, > a known but very small-valued resistor), but they're quite different, > basically.
They are still basically the same: What voltage or how much current is flowing through the electro magnet that moves the handle is irrelevant other than that it takes a given amount of energy to move the handle. That amount of energy can (in theory) be made up from any combination of voltage and current. > > Is it even possible to measure a mere potential? > > Back to a water analogy, consider you're holding a bucket of water. > The height of the surface of the water above the floor represents its > potential for doing work, its energy. Still you are not measuring a potential but the relative height of the surface of the water. I. e., you measure/observe something of which you think that it represents a potential, like in the example with deflected particles and shape shifting crystals, but not the potential itself. -- "Don't let them, daddy. Don't let the stars run down." http://adin.dyndns.org/adin/TheLastQ.htm -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
