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Prof. George Lebo, University of Florida: "An electron volt (eV) is the energy that an electron gains when it travels through a potential of one volt. You can imagine that the electron starts at the negative plate of a parallel plate capacitor and accelerates to the positive plate, which is at one volt higher potential. Numerically one eV equals 1.6x10^-19 joules or a joule is 6.2x10¹⁸ eV. For example, it would take 6.2x10²⁰ eV/sec to light a 100 watt light bulb."

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