Imagine you have a positive test charge in an electric field and you move it from one point to another. When you move it, the charge against the electric field, you have to do work on it using an external force, like your hand pushing it along the path. The work done by your hand on the charge will increase the potential energy and also cause a difference in the electric potential between the start and finish locations. If the electric potential difference between the start and finish is 10 volts, then one Coulomb of charge will increase by 10 Joules of potential energy when you push the charge from start to finish. This is what voltage is.


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