potential
To view the entire topic, please log in or purchase a subscription.
Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary Online + App from F.A. Davis and Unbound Medicine. Find 75,000 medical and nursing definitions. Download to iPhone, iPad, and Android. Explore these free sample topics:
-- The first section of this topic is shown below --
(pŏ-ten′chăl)

[L. potentialis, powerful]
1. Existing in possibility; latent.
2. In electricity, voltage or electrical pressure. It is a condition in which a state of tension or pressure, capable of doing work, exists. When two electrically charged bodies of different potentials are brought together, an electric current passes from the body of high potential to that of low.
-- To view the remaining sections of this topic, please log in or purchase a subscription --
(pŏ-ten′chăl)

[L. potentialis, powerful]
1. Existing in possibility; latent.
2. In electricity, voltage or electrical pressure. It is a condition in which a state of tension or pressure, capable of doing work, exists. When two electrically charged bodies of different potentials are brought together, an electric current passes from the body of high potential to that of low.
There's more to see -- the rest of this entry is available only to subscribers.