Potential against Resistance—a Graphical Review
W. W. Sleator · American Journal of Physics · 1951
In this paper the graph of potential against resistance, often used to picture the discharge of an electric cell, is shown to represent the transformations of energy involved in the process. With this property in view, the V-R diagram becomes applicable to every energy transformation that can occur in an electric circuit. Such a diagram is used accordingly to represent the charging of a storage cell as well as its discharge, the charging of a condenser, the operation of the dc generator and motor, the performance of the copper-iron thermocouple, and the increase and decrease of current in an inductive coil without iron. It is hoped that this unified treatment of important electric processes may reveal their essential similarities and make them better understood and more easily remembered.