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Based on my understanding, charges are pushed along wires due to an electric field created by the battery, and charges gain electric energy as they loop through the battery. But I can't seem to understand the significance and purpose of a potential difference within the circuit in moving charges around the circuit if an electric field is already present. Can someone please explain this?

This will definitely be a great help in improving my understanding on how batteries facilitate the movement of charges in a wire.

AscenderVI
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    Does this answer your question? How does electricity flow in conductor when potential difference is applied? – Dale Jan 31 '24 at 15:00
  • @Dale From what I read, the battery forms an electric field which facilitates the movement of charges. But I'm still in the grey with the voltage mechanism. I understand that charges gain "kinetic energy" as they pass through the battery and loses kinetic energy as they pass through resistance. Is there any co-relation between electric fields and voltage? What is the voltage required for if the charges in the wire can move according to an already-constructed electric field without the use of any energy? My thinking is probably flawed, please feel free to correct me and clarify. – AscenderVI Jan 31 '24 at 15:11
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    @AscenderVI, yes, the voltage and the electric field are intimately linked. If you want answers to the questions in your comment, you need to edit your question post to include those questions. – The Photon Jan 31 '24 at 16:16
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    @ThePhoton Thank you for your feedback. I have edited the question and submitted it for review. I've read the answer provided in the link above, I understand now that electric fields are what facilitate the movement of charges, but how does electric potential energy/kinetic energy come into play? – AscenderVI Feb 01 '24 at 03:44
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    I think the edited question is no longer a duplicate and I have voted to reopen – Dale Feb 01 '24 at 03:52

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For an intuitive answer:

The electric field produces electric force.

Electric potential energy is just another way to describe the effect of electric force. Instead of saying "a force of $x$ Newton pushes on a charge", then you can also say something like "there is a potential difference of $x$ volts". Electric potential difference is with another word called voltage and is used extensively.

The key difference between potential energy and force is just that the potential energy measure describes what would happen when a charge arrives. While you cannot talk about a force being present without a charge being present, you can talk about a potential energy difference without a charge. This, at the core, also gives an idea of the word "potential" - this energy tells what a charge would have the potential for, should that scenario ever unfold. A battery connected to a circuit establishes as potential difference, which means that if a charge ever enters this circuit, we know can predict how it would behave (we can predict the forces it would experience).

Steeven
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  • Thank you very much for your response. I would like to clarify something:

    What I'm getting from your answer is that P.D. is used to quantify both the amount of work done on the charge to move it across 2 points (ie Kinetic energy) and at the same time the amount of electric potential energy that would be dissipated as other forms of energy across 2 points. Can you please elaborate on how the provision of both K.E. and E.E to the charge by the same electric field works? Thank you.

     – AscenderVI Feb 02 '24 at 15:24