Here is where I learned something new.  Amps isn't the water pressure, it's=
 how much water pressure that can be delivered depending on how much is nec=
essary.

In other words, I won't know how much current is available until I need it.=
  A cat's whisker across a 9 volt battery will melt (like the igniters in a=
 model rocket engine).  But a huge copper wire across the poles of my imagi=
nary battery would melt it completely because of the potential.

If I follow the water analogy, I can open the dam all I want, but if there =
is no water to back it up I get nothing downstream.  Then volts is how fast=
 it flows because of the incline of the river.

Dagmammit, is this a difficult concept for others, or just me?

:-)

lindy
-----Original Message-----
From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of=
 Jake Anderson
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 1:59 AM
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
Subject: Re: [OT] Thought experiment: Understanding volts vs amps

The water analogy is the simplest way of understanding volts and amps (and =
with a little creativity, inductance and capacitance) The short version, vo=
lts =3D water pressure, how much work each unit of water can do, IE one lit=
re of water coming out a 3000PSI pressure washer will clean more than 1L ou=
t of a hose.

amps =3D water volume, how many litres per second are going past a point.


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