Editing Voltage (section)

==Galvani potential vs. electrochemical potential==
{{main|Galvani potential|Electrochemical potential|Fermi level}}
Inside a conductive material, the energy of an electron is affected not only by the average electric potential but also by the specific thermal and atomic environment that it is in.
When a [[voltmeter]] is connected between two different types of metal, it measures not the electrostatic potential difference, but instead something else that is affected by thermodynamics.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=09QI-assq1cC&pg=PA22 |title=Fundamentals of electrochemistry|first= Vladimir Sergeevich|last= Bagotskii|page=22|isbn=978-0-471-70058-6|year=2006|publisher=John Wiley & Sons }}</ref>
The quantity measured by a voltmeter is the negative of the difference of the [[electrochemical potential]] of electrons ([[Fermi level]]) divided by the electron charge and commonly referred to as the voltage difference, while the pure unadjusted [[electrostatic potential]] (not measurable with a voltmeter) is sometimes called [[Galvani potential]].
The terms "voltage" and "electric potential" are ambiguous in that, in practice, they can refer to ''either'' of these in different contexts.