What is Amperes? from a source of electricity and for the object that uses electricity.?

Question

I am wondering what is really the function of amperes in the simplest explanation. For a battery (source of electricity) it has amperes and for an electric motor it also has an amperes. How does it affect the source or load? Let's just assume that the battery is 12 volts and the motor accept 12 volts.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Amperes is just a measurement of electrical current. You can have amperes of electrical current, pounds of sugar, gallons of milk, or tons of garbage. they are just measurements, that;s all.



When an electrical device say that is "has" 0.3 Amperes (also called "amps") of current, that does not mean that is HAS 0.33 amperes, that means that it NEEDS 0.33 Amperes to run.



For example, lets say that you have a 3 volt motor (like in a toy) that needs 0.2 amperes to run. Now, a AA cell battery has 1.5 volts at about 0.1 Amps. The battery does NOT have enough power to run the motor , so the motor will fail to run.



But if you STACK two AA batteries end-to-end (a SERIES connection), then the VOLTAGES add, giving you 3 volts at 0.1 amps. Now, there is enough VOLTAGE to run the motor , but not enough current (amps). in this case the motor will run SLOWLY.



So now, You design a battery circuit that hooks two batteries in series, and then hooks two series batteries in parallel with two more series batteries,. this give you 3 volts at 0.2 amps -- and the motor works fine!

Answer 2

Amperes are a unit of current. Current is the flow rate of charge. An ampere is one coulomb of charge flowing past a point each second.



Rememer, voltage is the cause, current is the effect. The voltage is like "electrical pressure", and is set by the source of voltage as a function of space. The device's resistance relates voltage to current.



The product of voltage and current is the power delivered to the device.

Answer 3

A battery may have ampere hours, but it is not likely to be rated in amperes.



3 ampere hours would mean that it could deliver a current of three amperes for one hour, or 1.5 amps for two hours, or 1 amp for three hours before going flat.