So we're covering RC circuits in my physics class and I'm having some trouble with the concepts. When you have a circuit with a resistor and a battery, current passing through the resistor produces a voltage drop. If the battery is zero for our potential, the battery imbues the circuit with some potential difference which creates a current. My book says that the resistor will suck all of the potential energy out of the charges passing through it, since the voltage drop through the resistor equals the voltage of the battery. I don't understand how this could be, because if the charges in the wire have no potential energy after they've passed through the resistor how could they continue to be drawn toward the other end of the battery? Also, what happens as charge flows through a wire attached to both terminals of a battery, with no other circuit components, if we assume the resistance to be "negligible?" According to V=IR, the voltage would go to zero! I remember reading that this is mostly an experimental law, and is only valid at certain temperatures in certain substances, but this is still a confusing point. Could someone help me clarify?