A negative voltage is determined by how the circuit reacts to either hole flow, or electron flow. A hole is an absense of an electron, a "home" for an electron of sorts, and it has a positive potential. An electron has a negative potential. They are drawn to each other. If you could see electrons flow in one direction, you'll see the holes (where the electron just left) flowing in the opposite direction, with new electrons jumping into them. I'm forced to use a drawn out example to explain this.

Take a diode, which is a normal component you'll find in a lot of circuits. A diode allows current to flow in one direction, but not in the other direction. A diode is made up of two doped materials fused to each other side by side. A P-type material that has many more holes than it has electrons, and a N-type that has many more electrons than it has holes. The holes have a positive potential, and the electrons have a negative potential. So the diode is built like this: ++++-------, or +++diode---- . All the pluses on one side, and the negatives on the other. (Theres no way to have ALL electrons or holes on one side, but close enough to explain)

Answered by Reeta K , an ibibo Master, at 12:57 AM on May 10, 2008

A negative voltage is determined by how the circuit reacts to either hole flow, or electron flow. A hole is an absense of an electron, a "home" for an electron of sorts, and it has a positive potential. An electron has a negative potential. They are drawn to each other. If you could see electrons flow in one direction, you'll see the holes (where the electron just left) flowing in the opposite direction, with new electrons jumping into them. I'm forced to use a drawn out example to explain this.

Answered by shepherd , an ibibo Master, at 12:57 PM on April 30, 2008

well,Negative Voltage: Man, this is a hard thing to explain, without getting into engineering terminology, and explaining space charge regions, etc. A negative voltage is determined by how the circuit reacts to either hole flow, or electron flow. A hole is an absense of an electron, a "home" for an electron of sorts, and it has a positive potential. An electron has a negative potential. They are drawn to each other. If you could see electrons flow in one direction, you'll see the holes (where the electron just left) flowing in the opposite direction, with new electrons jumping into them. I'm forced to use a drawn out example to explain this.

Take a diode, which is a normal component you'll find in a lot of circuits. A diode allows current to flow in one direction, but not in the other direction. A diode is made up of two doped materials fused to each other side by side. A P-type material that has many more holes than it has electrons, and a N-type that has many more electrons than it has holes. The holes have a positive potential, and the electrons have a negative potential. So the diode is built like this: ++++-------, or +++diode---- . All the pluses on one side, and the negatives on the other. (Theres no way to have ALL electrons or holes on one side, but close enough to explain)
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Answered by satyaiitk , an ibibo Master, at 7:02 PM on April 29, 2008

in any dc voltage if the positive terminal is grounded then it turns to negative voltage. it is developed by putting rectifier and filder condesor in reverse direction if voltage is taken from AC circuit

Answered by Nishu's , an ibibo Master, at 6:05 PM on April 29, 2008

well, Most operational amplifier circuits require a dual-polarity power supply - one having +V and -V. However, there are times when a DP supply simply isn't conveniently available. Single-polarity modifications to DP designs often acheive their effect by referencing the input to a "synthetic ground", derived using a resistive voltage divider. This renders the resulting circuit highly sensitive to power supply noise, since any variation in the power supply will be divided by the divider, then used as an input reference, and amplified by the circuit in question. While this is of little concern with battery sources, AC "wall-warts" and many DIY power supplies are chock full of horrendous 60Hz buzz that is sure to get into the circuit.
So the bottom line is, any battery, or any power supply could provide either a positive or negative voltage, just depends on which way you hook it to the circuit. The circuit is what determines the difference. But if you apply the wrong voltage potential, and say that diode wasn't suppose to allow the flow of electrons? You have a problem. The dam just broke, flooded the city and things start smoking. I hope this was clear enough.

Source site:
http://www.armory.com/~ rstevew/Public/PSUs/-vgen.html

Answered by Uttam , an ibibo Master, at 9:52 AM on April 29, 2008

A negative voltage is determined by how the circuit reacts to either hole flow, or electron flow. A hole is an absense of an electron, a "home" for an electron of sorts, and it has a positive potential. An electron has a negative potential. They are drawn to each other. If you could see electrons flow in one direction, you'll see the holes (where the electron just left) flowing in the opposite direction, with new electrons jumping into them. I'm forced to use a drawn out example to explain this.

Take a diode, which is a normal component you'll find in a lot of circuits. A diode allows current to flow in one direction, but not in the other direction. A diode is made up of two doped materials fused to each other side by side. A P-type material that has many more holes than it has electrons, and a N-type that has many more electrons than it has holes. The holes have a positive potential, and the electrons have a negative potential. So the diode is built like this: ++++-------, or +++diode---- . All the pluses on one side, and the negatives on the other. (Theres no way to have ALL electrons or holes on one side, but close enough to explain)

Now if you put the negative side of the battery to the +++++ side of the diode, and the positive side of the battery to the -------- side of the diode, what will happen? You will have this-> Bat--- +++diode--- +++Bat. Just like a magnet.... The pluses will be drawn over to the negative side of the battery, the negatives drawn to the plus side of the battery, and a huge gap in the middle. It will look like this-> ++--- empty middle ++-- . Nothing will flow, cause there's this huge gap in the middle. There is no bridge between the two regions in the diode.

Answered by jaivir , an ibibo Master, at 6:04 PM on April 28, 2008

A negative voltage is determined by how the circuit reacts to either hole flow, or electron flow. A hole is an absense of an electron, a "home" for an electron of sorts, and it has a positive potential. An electron has a negative potential. They are drawn to each other.A negative voltage means the electrons are going the other way to the way your voltmeter things they should go, turn you voltmeter round and the voltage will become positive.
If you could see electrons flow in one direction, you'll see the holes (where the electron just left) flowing in the opposite direction, with new electrons jumping into them.

Answered by Kajal Sharma , an ibibo Master, at 5:20 PM on April 28, 2008

Negative Voltage: Man, this is a hard thing to explain, without getting into engineering terminology, and explaining space charge regions, etc. A negative voltage is determined by how the circuit reacts to either hole flow, or electron flow. A hole is an absense of an electron, a "home" for an electron of sorts, and it has a positive potential. An electron has a negative potential. They are drawn to each other. If you could see electrons flow in one direction, you'll see the holes (where the electron just left) flowing in the opposite direction, with new electrons jumping into them. I'm forced to use a drawn out example to explain this.Take a diode, which is a normal component you'll find in a lot of circuits. A diode allows current to flow in one direction, but not in the other direction. A diode is made up of two doped materials fused to each other side by side. A P-type material that has many more holes than it has electrons, and a N-type that has many more electrons than it has holes. The holes have a positive potential, and the electrons have a negative potential. So the diode is built like this: ++++-------, or +++diode---- . All the pluses on one side, and the negatives on the other. (Theres no way to have ALL electrons or holes on one side, but close enough to explain) Now if you put the negative side of the battery to the +++++ side of the diode, and the positive side of the battery to the -------- side of the diode, what will happen? You will have this-> Bat--- +++diode--- +++Bat. Just like a magnet.... The pluses will be drawn over to the negative side of the battery, the negatives drawn to the plus side of the battery, and a huge gap in the middle. It will look like this-> ++--- empty middle ++-- . Nothing will flow, cause there's this huge gap in the middle. There is no bridge between the two regions in the diode. WHAT YOU HAVE JUST DONE, IS APPLIED A NEGATIVE VOLTAGE TO THE DIODE. Now if you turn the same battery around, then you have this-> Bat+++ +++diode---- ---Bat. Since like a magnet, the like charges will repel each other, and they will be forced to merge in the middle of the diode. This will cause a bridge of sorts in the middle of the diode, and current can now flow relatively freely. YOU HAVE JUST APPLIED A POSITIVE VOLTAGE TO THE DIODE. Now the last two of applying a positive or negative voltage could be switched. It all depends on how a person is looking at the whole circuit. They could say the last one was applying a negative voltage due to having to reverse bias a transistor. Or maybe the diode is a zenor diode. etc. etc... This could get technical real quick.So the bottom line is, any battery, or any power supply could provide either a positive or negative voltage, just depends on which way you hook it to the circuit. The circuit is what determines the difference. But if you apply the wrong voltage potential, and say that diode wasn't suppose to allow the flow of electrons? You have a problem. The dam just broke, flooded the city and things start smoking. I hope this was clear enough. It is a hard one to explain.

Answered by ayisha , an ibibo Master, at 4:37 PM on April 28, 2008

The negative portion of any charge is practically the beginnig or end of a complete circuit. So think of a circle, but its not connected at 2 ends, now picture a + sign on 1 of those ends, and a - sign on the other. The - sign is the NEGATIVE part of that charge, or a ground pretty much. Just like when a bird sits on a power line, it doesnt get electricuted because theres no ground(negative charge) to complete the circuit.

Answered by SARLA , an ibibo Advisor, at 4:23 PM on April 28, 2008