how does increasing the voltage in a circuit affect the energy of the electrons flowing in the current?

Answer 1

Power = Voltage * Current
Voltage = Resistance * Current
thus Current = Voltage/Resistance
and Power = Voltage^2/Resistance

As you increase the voltage, the number of electrons increase in the current. Their speed remains approximatively the same and curiously it is pretty slow (in the order of cm/s). The reason for this is that electron are ejected from an atom and immediately reabsorbed by another, so they hop from atom to atom and their overall speed is pretty slow. The electrical field though travels at the speed of light.

Answer 2

A good question, but I haven't seen an answer yet that answers it completely. Let's look at the basic definition of voltage, shall we?

Voltage is defined as energy per coulomb of charge; in fact, the unit of volt can be decomposed into J/C (Joules per Coulomb). So, when current flows through a voltage rise, the charges gain energy. When the current flows throw a voltage drop, the electrons go from a state of high energy to low and so energy is lost.

Now, back to your question. Increasing the voltage will linearly increase the energy that the electrons possess.

Answer 3

For a constant load resistance, the power/energy will scale as the square of the voltage.

Answer 4

I have lot of deep explnation, but i think i will make my answer, direct and simple

Energy stored prop to Square of voltage, meaning work is done on the electron to move from lower energy level to higher energy level(nothing but electric Current), so that they can do some useful work when the fall from higher energy level to lower energy level. All our devices and appliances work because in the supply all electrons are at enegy level (voltage) so that they will fall lower to energy level by doing some useful work (fan, light, mixie,grinder, you name it)