When you want to buy anything, the first thing that you look for is its product description. Offline, it is usually provided by the manufacturer on the product package. Online, you get lots of information from the manufacturer, seller as well as elsewhere through blogs, forums and articles. This applies to when you want to buy a battery too. And in this case you are bombarded with lots of technical terms like volt, power, ampere, ampere-hour, efficiency, etc. as well. Here we will try to simplify some common terms associated with batteries and electrical connections.
Ampere or Amps (A)
Ampere or Amps is the SI (an international system of measurements) unit of measuring current. In simple terms, flow of electrons through a circuit is called current. If you want to be more accurate, rate of flow of electrons at any given point in the circuit at any given point of time is called current. It is denoted by capital I.
1 ampere = 1 coulomb/sec, where coulomb measures the amount of electrons
Ohms (R)
Ohm is the SI unit of electrical resistance. When current flows through any electrical circuit, some of the electrons can collide with atoms of the wires and produce heat. This heat resists the flow of current and is measured in terms of ohms.
Volts (V)
Volt is the SI unit of measuring electrical voltage. Voltage is the potential difference between two points between which current is flowing. Current flows from higher potential difference to the lower potential difference.
V = I X R
So, 1 volt is the potential difference required for 1 ampere of current to flow against 1 ohm of resistance.
Watts (W)
Watts is the SI unit of power (P). 1 watt measures the amount of electrical power consumed when a current of 1 ampere flows through a potential difference of 1 volt. Our electricity bills are measured in Kilowatt-hour, i.e. how many kilowatts (1000 Watts) of electricity we have consumed in an hour.
P = V X I
The wattage of a battery tells the rate at which the battery can supply electrical power when connected to a device.
I hope you are feeling more comfortable about terms like amps, volts, watts and ohms. If you still have some questions left, do drop a comment and I will surely try to clarify your doubts.
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