资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Potential \Po*ten"tial\, n.
   1. Anything that may be possible; a possibility; potentially.
      --Bacon.

   2. (Math.) In the theory of gravitation, or of other forces
      acting in space, a function of the rectangular coordinates
      which determine the position of a point, such that its
      differential coefficients with respect to the
      co["o]rdinates are equal to the components of the force at
      the point considered; -- also called {potential function},
      or {force function}. It is called also {Newtonian
      potential} when the force is directed to a fixed center
      and is inversely as the square of the distance from the
      center.

   3. (Elec.) The energy of an electrical charge measured by its
      power to do work; hence, the degree of electrification as
      referred to some standard, as that of the earth;
      electro-motive force.