Potential generally refers to a currently unrealized ability. The term is used in a wide variety of fields, from physics to the social sciences to indicate things that are in a state where they are able to change in ways ranging from the simple release of energy by objects to the realization of abilities in people. The philosopher Aristotle incorporated this concept into his theory of potentiality and actuality,[1] a pair of closely connected principles which he used to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, and De Anima, which is about the human psyche.[2] That which is potential can theoretically be made actual by taking the right action; for example, a boulder on the edge of a cliff has potential to fall that could be actualized by pushing it over the edge. Several languages have a potential mood, a grammatical construction that indicates that something is potential. These include Finnish,[3] Japanese,[4] and Sanskrit.[5]
In physics, a potential may refer to the scalar potential or to the vector potential. In either case, it is a field defined in space, from which many important physical properties may be derived. Leading examples are the gravitational potential and the electric potential, from which the motion of gravitating or electrically charged bodies may be obtained. Specific forces have associated potentials, including the Coulomb potential, the van der Waals potential, the Lennard-Jones potential and the Yukawa potential. In electrochemistry there are Galvani potential, Volta potential, electrode potential, and standard electrode potential. In the
thermodynamics, the term potential often refers to thermodynamic potential.
^dynamis–energeia, translated into Latin as potentia–actualitas (earlier also possibilitas–efficacia). Giorgio Agamben, Opus Dei: An Archaeology of Duty (2013), p. 46.
^Sachs, Joe (2005), "Aristotle: Motion and its Place in Nature", Internet Encyclopedia of PhilosophySachs (2005)
^Clemens Niemi, A Finnish Grammar (1917), p. 27.
^Tatui Baba, An Elementary Grammar of the Japanese Language (1888), p. 18.
^Ratnakar Narale, Sanskrit for English Speaking People (2004), p. 332.
Potential generally refers to a currently unrealized ability. The term is used in a wide variety of fields, from physics to the social sciences to indicate...
An action potential occurs when the membrane potential of a specific cell rapidly rises and falls. This depolarization then causes adjacent locations to...
In physics, potential energy is the energy held by an object because of its position relative to other objects, stresses within itself, its electric charge...
Membrane potential (also transmembrane potential or membrane voltage) is the difference in electric potential between the interior and the exterior of...
In thermodynamics, the chemical potential of a species is the energy that can be absorbed or released due to a change of the particle number of the given...
Electric potential (also called the electric field potential, potential drop, the electrostatic potential) is defined as the amount of work energy needed...
In fluid dynamics, potential flow or irrotational flow refers to a description of a fluid flow with no vorticity in it. Such a description typically arises...
An evoked potential or evoked response is an electrical potential in a specific pattern recorded from a specific part of the nervous system, especially...
In classical mechanics, the gravitational potential is a scalar field associating with each point in space the work (energy transferred) per unit mass...
In quantum mechanics the delta potential is a potential well mathematically described by the Dirac delta function - a generalized function. Qualitatively...
A potential well is the region surrounding a local minimum of potential energy. Energy captured in a potential well is unable to convert to another type...
also known as (electrical) potential difference, electric pressure, or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a...
In electrodynamics, the retarded potentials are the electromagnetic potentials for the electromagnetic field generated by time-varying electric current...
Postsynaptic potentials are changes in the membrane potential of the postsynaptic terminal of a chemical synapse. Postsynaptic potentials are graded potentials, and...
In quantum mechanics and scattering theory, the one-dimensional step potential is an idealized system used to model incident, reflected and transmitted...
Redox potential (also known as oxidation / reduction potential, ORP, pe, E r e d {\displaystyle E_{red}} , or E h {\displaystyle E_{h}} ) is a measure...
electrophysiology, the threshold potential is the critical level to which a membrane potential must be depolarized to initiate an action potential. In neuroscience,...
A velocity potential is a scalar potential used in potential flow theory. It was introduced by Joseph-Louis Lagrange in 1788. It is used in continuum...
A potential superpower is a state or other polity that is speculated to be or have the potential to become a superpower, a state or supranational union...
Water potential is the potential energy of water per unit volume relative to pure water in reference conditions. Water potential quantifies the tendency...
The Volta potential (also called Volta potential difference, contact potential difference, outer potential difference, Δψ, or "delta psi") in electrochemistry...
economics, potential output (also referred to as "natural gross domestic product") refers to the highest level of real gross domestic product (potential output)...
The grand potential or Landau potential or Landau free energy is a quantity used in statistical mechanics, especially for irreversible processes in open...
membrane potential (or resting voltage), as opposed to the specific dynamic electrochemical phenomena called action potential and graded membrane potential. Apart...
vector calculus, a vector potential is a vector field whose curl is a given vector field. This is analogous to a scalar potential, which is a scalar field...
Contact potential may refer to: Contact potential, a voltage generated; See Electromotive force Galvani potential, at a junction of two metals Volta potential...
Interatomic potentials are mathematical functions to calculate the potential energy of a system of atoms with given positions in space. Interatomic potentials are...
A receptor potential, also known as a generator potential, a type of graded potential, is the transmembrane potential difference produced by activation...
Zeta potential is the electrical potential at the slipping plane. This plane is the interface which separates mobile fluid from fluid that remains attached...
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