We can express the voltage between two points mathematically as the change of energy experienced by

a charge:

V = \dfrac{\Delta U}{q}V=

ΔU

V, equals, start fraction, delta, U, divided by, q, end fraction

That's an intuitive description of voltage in a nutshell.

Power

Power is defined as the rate energy (\text UUstart text, U, end text) is transformed or transferred over
time. We measure power in units of joules/second, also known as watts.

(1 \,\text{watt} = 1\,\text{joule}/\text{second}1watt=1joule/second1, start text, w, a, t, t, end text,

equals, 1, start text, j, o, u, l, e, end text, slash, start text, s, e, c, o, n, d, end text)

\text{power} = \dfrac{\text dU}{\text dt}power=

dt

dU

start text, p, o, w, e, r, end text, equals, start fraction, start text, d, end text, U, divided by, start text, d,
end text, t, end fraction

An electric circuit is capable of transferring power. Current is the rate of flow of charge, and voltage
measures the energy transferred per unit of charge. We can insert these definitions into the equation
for power:

\text{power} = \dfrac{\text dU}{\text dt} = \dfrac{\text dU}{\text dq} \cdot \dfrac{\text dq}{\text dt} =
v \,ipower=

dt

dU

dq

dU
⋅

dt

dq

=vistart text, p, o, w, e, r, end text, equals, start fraction, start text, d, end text, U, divided by, start text,
d, end text, t, end fraction, equals, start fraction, start text, d, end text, U, divided by, start text, d, end
text, q, end fraction, dot, start fraction, start text, d, end text, q, divided by, start text, d, end text, t, end
fraction, equals, v, i

Electrical power is the product of voltage times current. in units of watts.