# Where is voltage “stored”? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** tools-electric-diy, science-math\ **Created:** [January 8, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-voltage-stored/1012739 "2025-01-08T20:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-voltage-stored/1012739/21 "2025-01-09T00:22:10Z")
Indeed. Nakamura Lines pilot at your service. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-voltage-stored/1012739/22 "2025-01-09T00:38:18Z")
An Electronvolt is a measure of energy. Yes I know E=mc^2. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-voltage-stored/1012739/23 "2025-01-09T05:31:35Z")
I’m not sure anyone has yet given the simplistic answer I would give. Consider a single electron and a single proton separated by one meter in otherwise empty space. Their attraction yields a potential energy of 1 electron-volt (or is it 2 electron-volts?). The voltage (energy divided by charge) is provided by (or “stored in”) the _separation_ of the electron from the corresponding positive charge. Double the separation distance and the voltage doubles. This simple answer defies common sense! The voltage of a battery does NOT depend on the distance from cathode to anode. In a high-energy capacitor the oppositely-charged plates are deliberately placed _close_ to each other, not _separated_ as the preceding paragraph implies. But these are details! Conceptually energy is spent separating charge and recovered by the requited attraction of opposites. And voltage is just energy per charge. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-voltage-stored/1012739/24 "2025-01-09T12:55:56Z")
Just to point out, an electron volt is the kinetic energy gained by an electron worth of charge moving across a potential of one volt. It isn’t a measure of energy intrinsic to an electron. Electrons have charge. Not voltage. Use of one Volt here is totally arbitrary. One Coulomb of charge dropping across one Volt is one Joule. That is a lot of electrons. 6.24\times 10^{18} of them. One eV is very little energy. The energy mass equivalent of an electron is about half a million eV. Again, Volts doesn’t have any intrinsic role here. But you can reverse the energy charge across potential definition. If you do work moving some charges about in space, if you measure the energy expended performing the work, you would see a change in the voltage between the charged objects as so defined. An electrostatic generator can convert input kinetic energy moving charged plates, thus creating potential, to move mobile charge and store it in a capacitor. Which now has both charge and potential. The reverse also works. Let the potential push charge about and it can do work moving charged plates. Sounds slightly insane. However the Accutron Electrostatic watch works just this way. Quite cool. Very geeky. > **[Accutron Watch Official Site | ACCUTRON](https://www.accutronwatch.com/us/en/)** > > Bulova // Accutron // Accutron, known as the world's first fully electronic watch, has been declared as one of the most important innovations in the history of watchmaking. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-voltage-stored/1012739/25 "2025-01-09T13:05:39Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Nakamura Lines pilot at your service. I thought they went bankrupt? Oops, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. Sorry if you start getting nagging notices from your bank… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-voltage-stored/1012739/26 "2025-01-09T14:13:55Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > However the Accutron Electrostatic watch works just this way. Quite cool. Very geeky. Amazing. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-voltage-stored/1012739/27 "2025-01-09T23:59:03Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > A single electron does not have a voltage. Yes, this is the first element of the misconception that leads to the question of “storing” or adding up the potential energy. Voltage is not a property of an election, it is the relation between electrons. For instance, gas pressure is a measure of how densely packed gas molecules are. Water pressure is similar - the compression is tiny for the force, because it is electrostatic charges between molecules. Voltage is distances between electrons (than you @Dr.Strangelove for that explanation, helping me grasp it). > [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > You can see the water itself, you can feel the pressure, but you don’t really talk about ‘storing’ pressure. The pressure is a consequence of wherever your local water tower is (how the gravitational potential comes about). The water itself can be stored up there and used to generate a pressure drop (relative to some local ground) but it is not the pressure itself. Water pressure can come from different mechanisms. Gravitational potential is the common source for water pressure in cities. Height of water surface above use level. Water can also be pumped like any other fluid, or squeezed by a press. Water pressure isn’t a characteristic of the water molecules individually, it is the relation between them. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-voltage-stored/1012739/28 "2025-01-10T01:34:27Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > One eV is very little energy. On the other hand, one eV is a pretty high temperature. Well, depends on what you are cooking. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-voltage-stored/1012739/29 "2025-01-10T02:40:39Z")
It won’t heat very much though. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-voltage-stored/1012739.md?page=1)