Voltameter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A measurement device specifically intended for quantifying electric voltage, facilitating accurate assessments of potential difference in circuits, is crucial for scientific experimentation and electrical studies
2. This particular instrument serves to gauge the voltage levels across electrical circuits, thus playing an important role in both educational and practical applications involving electricity
3. A device used to determine the voltage difference between two points in an electrical circuit

Etymology: Alessandro Volta, the Italian physicist who built one of the first electric batteries, gave his name to the unit of electrical potential. This term combines his name with "-meter," from the Greek "metron," meaning measure, the same pattern as "thermometer" or "speedometer." The older sense of the term is not quite what the modern definition suggests. In early electrochemistry, a voltameter was an electrolytic cell whose deposit of metal or gas showed how much current had passed through it. It measured the quantity of charge, not the potential difference between two points. The instrument used for voltage is the voltmeter, and "voltameter" is now mostly an older or variant spelling, sometimes applied to that electrolytic device.