potential difference

electronics

Learn about this topic in these articles:

analog computers

  • analog computer
    In analog computer

    …mid-20th century operated by manipulating potential differences (voltages). Their basic component was an operational amplifier, a device whose output current was proportional to its input potential difference. By causing this output current to flow through appropriate components, further potential differences were obtained, and a wide variety of mathematical operations, including…

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electrostatics

  • electric force between two charges
    In electricity: Electric potential

    …equation (5), which defines the potential difference between two points, is combined with Coulomb’s law, it yields the following expression for the potential difference VAVB between points A and B:where ra and rb are the distances of

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nervous systems

  • neuron; conduction of the action potential
    In nervous system: Ions

    …in electrical potential—is called the potential difference, and it is the starting point of all electrical events in nervous systems. When present in the plasma membrane of the neuron, the potential difference transforms the neuron into an electrolytic cell that is capable, upon stimulation, of generating and transmitting electrical impulses.

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physiology of hearing

  • human ear
    In human ear: Transduction of mechanical vibrations

    This direct current potential difference is about +80 millivolts and results from the difference in potassium content between the two fluids. It is thought to be maintained by the continual transport of potassium ions from the perilymph into the cochlear duct by the stria vascularis. The endolymph, which…

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