What is the difference between 110 volt and 220 volt electrical outlets?

Power Usage : No difference as P = V*I

decrease/increase in voltage will result in increase/decrease in current, but power will still remain the same.

110V is equally efficient to 220V as long the frequency is same.

If the current supplied on both the 110V and 220V are same then the 220 is better.. for example a kettle on 220V n 5Amps will boil faster as overall power goes up compare to 110V n 5Amps.

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It is easy to tell a 220/240 amp outlet from a 110/120 amp outlet the 240 will usually have only one socket. It is also much larger sometimes even the plug is different shaped. If you have a large appliance outlet you will know just by looking. Now the problem you may have is if the the wall heater has a different kind of plug. Unlike 110/120 amp where all plugs will go in, in 220/240 amp the plugs come in different styles. In all cases change the outlet, not the plug on the heater. If your outlet looks like an ordinary outlet it's for 110 amp. Good Luck. Just looked up no you can't have a 110 and 220 on the same circuit. Or at least it would be hard for me to believe anyone in their right mind would leave two hot wires from a double poled circuit breaker loose, something I've never seen done, but it would require electrical work in any case. Just coming back with what if, they left the one double poled set of wires disconnected I guess that would work 110, but would still require electrical work.

110 Vs 220

110 volts isn't more efficient.

Take a 2000 watt kettle for heating water.

At 110 volts it would take 18.18 Amps. At 220 volts it would take 9.09 Amps.

If they both had the same sort of wire feeding the socket, which one could give more power out?

If the wire could handle 20 amps, the outlet could handle 4400 watts at 220 volts and 2200 watts at 110 volts.

In the American system, you would have to touch both live wires of a 220 volt outlet to get 220 volts across you. This is because the 220 volt line is really 110 volts either side of neutral which is normally earthed. If you only touch one side and earth, you only get 110 volts across you. This is still very dangerous but not as deadly as 220 volts on its own.

110 Volts

Elecro's answer isn't entirely true. If you look strictly at the math, there is no difference between 110 and 220. Watts stay the same regardless of voltage, so the work done (Energy) is the same. However, electrical circuits and appliances are more efficient at higher voltage. There is less loss to resistance (heat). If you look further into Ohm's Law, resistance must also be taken into account. 220v by nearly every measure costs less due to less resistive losses.

Grab a 110 line and you'll get shocked.

Grad a 220 line and you will get electrocuted.

Ovens, dryers some wielding machines they require more power to operate. This is where your 220 lines come into play. The 220 line has more amperage. If the electric was water then your amps would be the same as your water pressure, or how hard its being pushed through the line.

More voltage at the same cycles per second (cps) means more power to the appliance, BUT, you must not use 110 v appliances in 220v outlets, or you'll burn them out, and using 220 appliances in 110 will make them run slow or not at all. 220 is used for large appliances, machine shops, etc.

some machines just need to draw more energy then others