Voltage is a fundamental electrical concept, one that underlies almost everything else in electrical engineering.

• Why learn about voltage?
• Electrical engineers need to know about voltage in order to analyze and design electrical circuits.  (It's not the only thing necessary, but you need to know it.)
• Mechanical, civil, chemical and bio engineers encounter voltage when they make measurements (temperature and other quantities).  Gone is the day when people sit with a clipboard in their hand and record readings from pressure gages and things like that.  Today, sensors that measure pressure (and other physical variables, like temperature, pH, rotational rate, etc.) produce electrical outputs that are changed into a digital representation that can be imported into a computer so that the data can be graphed, analyzed and otherwise beaten to death.
• What should you know to learn about voltage?
• If necessary, review the material about charge.
• What do you need to know about voltage?
• First, you need to know about charge.
• You need to know what voltage is.
• You need to know how sensors produce voltage.
• You need to know Kirchoff's Voltage Law (KVL).
• How do you use voltage and the idea of voltage?
• You will need to be able to measure voltage.
• Voltmeters and DVMs
• Oscilloscopes
• A/D boards
• You will need to be able to use voltage to analyze circuits.
• What if?
• If you really need to analyze circuits, you will need to learn about current and Kirchoff's Current Law (KCL).
• If the voltage is not constant, you will need to learn about voltage signals.
• If you are measuring voltage signals, you need to know about parameters of periodic signals.
• Problems
• Click here for Problems on Basic Concepts including Voltage.

        Here are some links to experiments you can do that will help you learn about measuring voltage in different situations.

• Measuring Battery Voltage(s)
• Measuring Sensor Voltages
• Measuring Power Supply Voltage
• Measuring Voltage with an Oscilloscope