The volt (symbol: V), named after Alessandro Volta, is the unit of measurement of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI).
Definition One volt is defined as the electric potential between two points of a conducting wire when an electric current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power between those points. It can be expressed in terms of SI base units (m, kg, s, and A) as
V = power electric current = W A = kg ⋅ m 2 ⋅ s − 3 A = kg ⋅ m 2 ⋅ s − 3 ⋅ A − 1 . {\displaystyle {\text{V}}={\frac {\text{power}}{\text{electric current}}}={\frac {\text{W}}{\text{A}}}={\frac {{\text{kg}}{\cdot }{\text{m}}^{2}{\cdot }{\text{s}}^{-3}}{\text{A}}}={\text{kg}}{\cdot }{\text{m}}^{2}{\cdot }{\text{s}}^{-3}{\cdot }{{\text{A}}^{-1}}.}
Equivalently, it is the potential difference between two points that will impart one joule of energy per coulomb of charge that passes through it. It can be expressed in terms of SI base units (m, kg, s, and A) as
V = potential energy charge = J C = kg ⋅ m 2 ⋅ s − 2 A ⋅ s = kg ⋅ m 2 ⋅ s − 3 ⋅ A − 1 . {\displaystyle {\text{V}}={\frac {\text{potential energy}}{\text{charge}}}={\frac {\text{J}}{\text{C}}}={\frac {{\text{kg}}{\cdot }{\text{m}}^{2}{\cdot }{\text{s}}^{-2}}{{\text{A}}{\cdot }{\text{s}}}}={\text{kg}}{\cdot }{\text{m}}^{2}{\cdot }{\text{s}}^{-3}{\cdot }{{\text{A}}^{-1}}.}
It can also be expressed as amperes times ohms (current times resistance, Ohm's law), webers per second (magnetic flux per time), watts per ampere (power per current), or joules per coulomb (energy per charge), which is also equivalent to electronvolts per elementary charge:
V = A ⋅ Ω = Wb s = W A = J C = eV e . {\displaystyle {\text{V}}={\text{A}}{\cdot }\Omega ={\frac {\text{Wb}}{\text{s}}}={\frac {\text{W}}{\text{A}}}={\frac {\text{J}}{\text{C}}}={\frac {\text{eV}}{e}}.}
The volt is named after Alessandro Volta. As with every SI unit named after a person, its symbol starts with an upper case letter (V), but when written in full, it follows the rules for capitalisation of a common noun; i.e., volt becomes capitalised at the beginning of a sentence and in titles but is otherwise in lower case.
Josephson junction definition
Historically the "conventional" volt, V90, defined in 1987 by the 18th General Conference on Weights and Measures and in use from 1990 to 2019, was implemented using the Josephson effect for exact frequency-to-voltage conversion, combined with the caesium frequency standard. Though the Josephson effect is still used to realize a volt, the constant used has changed slightly. For the Josephson constant, KJ = 2e/h (where e is the elementary charge and h is the Planck constant), a "conventional" value KJ-90 = 0.4835979 GHz/μV was used for the purpose of defining the volt. As a consequence of the 2019 revision of the SI, as of 2019 the Josephson constant has an exact value of KJ = 483597.84841698... GHz/V, which replaced the conventional value KJ-90. This standard is typically realized using a series-connected array of several thousand or tens of thousands of junctions, excited by microwave signals between 10 and 80 GHz (depending on the array design). Empirically, several experiments have shown that the method is independent of device design, material, measurement setup, etc., and no correction terms are required in a practical implementation.
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