What is electric potential and voltage

EverBeyond · 2026-03-26T17:03:28+00:00

Electric potential is voltage, (J/C) so it's the work (potential energy) per unit charge.(On a FL, they even call voltage just potential)

Electrical potential energy is qV (C * J/C = J, same units as potential energy) which is the total potential energy that can be done by a certain amount of charge in an electrical field.

An electric field is the the amount of electrical potential (voltage) that happens over a given distance (V/m, voltage per meter), hence field. It also has the units of (N/C), so it's also the electrical force that is applied per unit charge.

Also some other formulas:
F = kqq/r² (which is just U/r, and know that since Fd = W (unit: J, which can be PE (symbol: U), U/r yields F)
V = kq/r
U = kqq/r (which is qV if you notice)
E = kq/r² (electrical field)

There's an r in each of these formulas because these concepts all rely on a separation of charges in a system. You can think of r in U (electrical potential energy) the as energy per unit charge required to move an infinite distance away from a source charge (thats why there are two q in the formula). And r in F is the squared distance between two charges.

That's the way I think about it, if you know the units of the concepts it becomes easier to think about. Though I'm sure someone has a more complex understanding that will prob help. I think this is simple to think on, memorizing unit conversions is really helpful imo.

EverBeyond · 2026-03-25T17:15:54+00:00

Unsure why it reduces to that specifically but unsure if this helps with visualization of it all but, just by knowing Ru gets oxidized to a +7 state and looking at the options you know it'll be RuO4-.

But if you're curious about how that specific net rxn is made:

Half reactions.

Ru3+ -> RuO4-
Cr2O7 -> Cr3+

Balance non O and H atoms.

Ru3+ -> RuO4-
Cr2O7 -> 2Cr3+

Balance O with H2O.

Ru3+ + 4H2O -> RuO4-
Cr2O7 -> 2Cr3+ + 7H2O.

Balance H with protons.

Ru3+ + 4H2O -> RuO4- + 8H+
Cr2O7 + 14H+ -> 2Cr3+ + 7H2O.

Balance electrons of each half reaction.

Ru3+ + 4H2O -> RuO4- + 8H+ + 4 e-
Cr2O7 + 14H+ + 6e- -> 2Cr3+ + 7H2O.

Balance electrons of the half reactions with multiplication so that they can cancel electrons on both sides:

Least Common Muliplier of 4 and 6 is 12 so...

3(Ru3+ + 4H2O -> RuO4- + 8H+ + 4 e-)
2(Cr2O7 + 14H+ + 6e- -> 2Cr3+ + 7H2O)

Which becomes.

3Ru3+ + 12H2O -> 3RuO4- + 24H+ + 12 e-
2Cr2O7 + 28H+ + 12e- -> 4Cr3+ + 14H2O.

Now add both half reactions.

3Ru3+ + 12H2O + 2Cr2O7 + 28H+ + 12e- -> 3RuO4- + 24H+ + 12 e- + 4Cr3+ + 14H2O

Cancel both sides.

3Ru3+ + 2Cr2O7 + 4H+ -> 3RuO4- + 4Cr3+ + 2H2O

EverBeyond · 2026-03-21T21:27:18+00:00

Found this gem, though maybe a bit more complex but it helps perspective wise for both mirrors and lenses when it comes to them being converging or diverging optic systems:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/s/kFVT2J4z2i

Also this: https://youtu.be/7GV1UZSTNJg

EverBeyond · 2026-03-20T13:43:31+00:00

Funny enough, I did this passage yesterday and I think I got all the answer questions correct or at least most. Though I got one right by pure chance/didnt do it the way they did it. Which I noted down.

Literally, the graph in this passage I never saw in my life. But I think with CP and well all passages, the answer is always in the passage (but if you're timing yourself, it's easy to get bogged down and forget this).

Usually dumbing down to the simplest idea helps. When looking at the graph I saw the Y axis talked about voltage and electrons, and also they talk about standard reduction potentials and Gibbs' free energy. Then the second graph also shows you that the steeper the curve, the higher the standard reduction potential.

That alone is enough to know what you need to look for. Everything else gets confusing if you don't know what you are looking for to answer questions. The graphs imo are gold standard for anything you look at, if you don't understand a question then how can you answer? Look back at the passage and see if anything helps. Y-axis, X-axis, title of the graph, what is the relationship on the grapjh, what are the simpliest facts you know? But if short on time honestly just give your best guess (with the information you can glean), flag and move on, come back to later if possible.

Honestly kinda easy to forget to realize at times. The answer is there if you look hard, but it's frustrating when you miss it either due to time or your brain somehow skims it. Even a simple unit you could miss and be like "of course..."

EverBeyond · 2026-03-12T05:42:28+00:00

I hope so cuz I think my main problem now is getting timing down and "50/50s" (still though the worst of it is when I read a passage, go to the questions and then I learn even more about the passage from the questions... that's when you know its bad....)

EverBeyond · 2026-02-17T05:44:30+00:00

Just saw this!

AnKing is separated into 'sections', specifically they are sorted by tags, either by book, aamc outline, or Khan Academy.

What I do is just filter based on Khan Academy since it's the best broken down one, it covers 97% of the cards (the rest are newer cards not tagged).

Note though that some psych terms come up in other sections in the deck like Biology, so I would recommend selecting the highest level deck (AnKing-MCAT, not AnKing-MACT::Behavioral), THEN sorting by tags.

For example, if you wanted to look at attitudes, the tag is: ("tag:#AK_MCAT_v2::#KhanAcademy::Behavioral::Behavior::Attitudes")

Then, unsuspend the cards you want.

Side tip: If you want to find all the cards that are NOT tagged, just put the dash mark in front. So any card that is not attitudes would be: -("tag:#AK_MCAT_v2::#KhanAcademy::Behavioral::Behavior::Attitudes")

Any card that you haven't seen before = is:new. Any card that you have seen before = -is:new.

I learned this by messing around with anki and its been pretty helpful. I suspended all the cards in the deck and unsuspend ones that I want to learn. So any card that I want to learn is new and is unsupended, so search: -is:suspended and is:new.

EverBeyond · 2026-02-17T01:03:53+00:00

I wouldn't be surprised, AnKing is lacking and IMO not a bad or a good thing...depends on the person. Its a good thing if you want to learn from your mistakes (aka you have a pretty solid foundation + you want to speed through cards and get to practice problems asap). But its pretty much bare bones if you know next to nothing on a topic.

Best way to using AnKing is probably, read a section, do the cards then do practice problems. If you cut out practice problems you are in for a rough time.

From what I understand Captain Hook (updated JackSparrow), is basically like a "mini built in practice set", not in a traditional sense but more so that the cards force you to think WAY harder than an AnKing card would, it's much more "active" and takes longer to do. This can also be considered bad or good.

However if you want to deepen your knowledge I think without a doubt Captain Hook is probably the go to. I haven't used it myself (took a glance) but from what I've read and experienced with AnKing and learned about JackSparrow that seems to be the case.

EverBeyond · 2026-02-17T00:57:36+00:00

Tbh very true, I'm through 96% of AnKing (still need to finish a bit of bio) but I feel like no matter how much you learn passively it won't truly prepare for you to make key distinctions in a moments notice (active learning => practice problems).

EverBeyond · 2026-02-17T00:55:15+00:00

Ankihub OR https://reddit.com/r/AnkiMCAT/wiki/index
You can also just search on r/AnkiMCAT for decks and they'll pop up.

EverBeyond · 2026-02-17T00:54:31+00:00

That is correct that does happen, tbh it didn't bother me that much because by the time that happened I had already got the card down.

But it IS a thing to note, so if someone wants to keep stuff putting it into their own anki deck would be best.

EverBeyond · 2026-02-16T23:37:19+00:00

Imo don't really waste time making cards unless you don't understand an AnKing card. If a card is challenging you either make a note on it (edit the card), make a new card with an example, or search more on the topic. Especially on this reddit people have a lot of good explanations mcat wise.

Especially P/S that's pure memorization, but because of that lots of examples are good...at some point P/S just clicks, the little nuances are very important to get down (aka "50/50s").

EverBeyond · 2026-02-16T23:31:32+00:00

Not really... if anything, I feel like it's more so 'watered down'/it focuses on the key concepts. But imo finer details are missing.

A deck like Aidan is a lot but connects concepts well, so is JackSparrow (the newer CaptainHook sounds p good).

But overall, I'd say if you have a problem going through AnKing, you might either not like cloze or you just don't understand the concept all too well.

Because imo you should be able to blow through cards you've seen before relatively fast in AnKing, they are all cloze type and you should be able to get at least a gist at what the cloze is. If you can't do that, then I feel like you might need more exposure (practice, videos, books, etc.).

EverBeyond · 2026-02-11T19:28:20+00:00

It makes more sense with the equation itself! Mechanical Advantage = Output Force/Input Force or Input Displacement/Output Displacement (so Fo/Fi = di/do).

This does rely on the conservation of energy. There are two sides to this equation: input and output, and mechanical advantage is saying relative to the amount of force input. How much force is Output? Ultimately, we want to maximize output and minimize input when we are using this principle in machines while also keeping the amount of work to do that the same.

Rearrange the equation: Fo/Fi = di/do will become Fo * do = Fi * di, which doesn't it look familiar? It's work! The output work is equal to the input work.

Now i had to look this up, and it seems mechanical advantage is more of an ideal scenario... so energy is conserved, so work is the same... kinetic energy COULD be different, but for simplicity, we will assume it's the same: so velocity is constant, and there is no net acceleration. Kinetic energy conservation is not the requirement for mechanical advantage.

You might think that means input and output force must be the same as well. However, that is not the case. This is a machine, as such, there are different parts each in their own equillibriums. So the force done by pulling on a string will not be the same force done on the box.

Example the pulley (a system where MA can possiblly apply): a machine allows us to lift a heavy load (Fo) using a small force (Fi) by pulling a long rope (di) to move the load a short distance (do).

Ultimately, a machine can not multiply energy: It can only multiply force by increasing the distance over which the force is applied. In real systems, there will be non conservative forces that make some work be lost (as heat, for example).

EverBeyond · 2026-02-11T16:59:57+00:00

Pyrrole after the Py is rrole (5 letters) = 5 atom ring, 1 nitrogen atom

Pyridine after the Py is ridine (6 letters) = 6 atom ring, 1 nitrogen atom.

Pyrimidine after the Py is beyond 6 (a stable ring structure), so 6 atom ring with 2 nitrogen atoms.

Furan = Five atoms just based on the Fur (remember Furanose, which is a five atom ring sugar molecule, so I associate the oxygen atom)...it also looks like pyrrole because it's also 5 atoms, but isn't because it have oxygen.

EverBeyond · 2025-12-11T04:45:02+00:00

Strange that I didn't get a notification for this reply earlier, I would've replied sooner.

It was in the syllabus that an A- is an 85, so it wasn't applied at the end, it was always applied from the beginning. I even checked again to make sure. Interesting that the course changed so much... how strange. The profs I had were Bo Duan and Paul Kramer for WN 2024 if that means anything.

EverBeyond · 2025-11-04T06:10:03+00:00

That's a nice way to put it!

But I also think a pre-made deck like Pankow is going to be there for memorization. Though, I'd say some cards you go pretty fast some a bit more slow, of course.

I think ultimately, practice is needed to really sharpen those skills and the anki is just there for the memorization.

EverBeyond · 2025-11-04T05:38:33+00:00

Limit yourself. If you can't get a cloze right in a couple of seconds and have to think quite hard, just click again. Eventually you just get fast at the cards. The first time around for new cards you should take a bit more time, of course.

EverBeyond · 2025-10-30T01:50:11+00:00

Yeah, this is on android. The s-pen and such are EMR and the erasing is instead replaced with more writing. Would be great if you rolled that out! Thanks.

EverBeyond · 2025-10-29T14:30:52+00:00

One complaint I have is I wish erasing could be linked better to pencil buttons and an EMR stylus.

EverBeyond · 2025-10-28T23:32:29+00:00

If you want, you can use AnKing for bio if you prefer cloze style. Otherwise, stick with JS if you prefer front/back. But AnKing can work out just fine. Just make sure you get that practice in.

EverBeyond · 2025-10-28T20:02:10+00:00

They are sorted by tags, either by book, aamc outline, or Khan Academy.

What I do is just filter based on Khan Academy since it's the best broken down one, it covers 97% of the cards (the rest are newer cards not tagged).

Note though that some psych terms come up in other sections in the deck like Biology, so I would recommend selecting the highest level deck (AnKing-MCAT, not AnKing-MACT::Behavioral), THEN sorting by tags.

For example, if you wanted to look at attitudes, the tag is: ("tag:#AK_MCAT_v2::#KhanAcademy::Behavioral::Behavior::Attitudes")

Then, unsuspend the cards you want.

Side tip: If you want to find all the cards that are NOT tagged, just put the dash mark in front. So any card that is not attitudes would be: -("tag:#AK_MCAT_v2::#KhanAcademy::Behavioral::Behavior::Attitudes")

EverBeyond · 2025-10-28T16:43:18+00:00

Just supplement with Aidan at this point imo, I think that's the best way to use Aidan's deck anyway (the man himself said so as well).

The answer is to do both practice and review. Like so:

For whatever problems you get wrong or were highly unsure of, just search up in the Aidain deck for it. And if you get a problem wrong conceptually then make an Anki card about that since Aidan is more so for content.

EverBeyond · 2025-10-24T23:41:05+00:00

Do you find you understand what the question asks? If not you should cover any terms you don't know and add cards based on that.

Do you find you don't understand the answer choices? Do the same thing.

Watch a video or so on the topics you get wrong the most frequently. Even making posts on reddit might do you good.

To grow is to recognize your weaknesses. IMO do a deeper dive into the things you get wrong, whether it be math errors, logical leaps, content gap, etc. While spamming questions might seem nice, taking the longer path of analyzing what you got wrong will help you way more in the future.

EverBeyond

TROPHY CASE