We say that voltage is like pressure, or like gravitational potential energy, because we're trying to draw an analogy to something that you can see or feel (because you can drop a rock on your toe, or feel the pressure in a balloon when you blow it up). What voltage is gets abstract (hence the analogies). The total voltage you get from one out and back, even with a high temperature difference is pretty small.

Understanding the Context

By putting many of these out and back combinations together, you can get a useful voltage. A single out and back is called a thermocouple, and can be used to sense temperature. Many together is a thermocouple generator. Yes, those actually ...

Key Insights

Likewise, if the current and voltage are below a certain level, a person can--given enough time--safely absorb an arbitrarily large amount of electrical energy. Further, if voltage is sufficiently low, the amount of current that can flow as a consequence of such voltage will be too low to cause harm. How do I calculate the voltage drop over wires given a supply voltage and a current? How do I anticipate on voltage drop so that the final load has the correct supply voltage? What will be the power The reverse voltage is the voltage drop across the diode if the voltage at the cathode is more positive than the voltage at the anode (if you connect + to the cathode).

Final Thoughts

This is usually much higher than the forward voltage. As with forward voltage, a current will flow if the connected voltage exceeds this value. This is called a "breakdown". Any device will only draw as much current as it needs, so long as its power source can supply it. However, the laptop adapter's voltage is a full volt above the specified 18 V; this will cause more current to flow into your device, since the voltage has been increased. Is it okay to use a power supply that provides slightly more voltage ...

How would one go about using a 12 V DC power source to power something which needs 4.5 V DC using resistors? Is there a way to determine how much adding a resistor would drop the voltage?