A question about electrons, charges and current












1














Let's talk about DC, a very simple circuit: a light bulb and a battery.



Some authors say that electrons move from negative to positive and current from positive from negative.



I always thought electrons moved in a wire at the light speed, but this video says that charges move very slow in a wire, about 5 centimeter per hour (2 inches per hour).



If electrons are charge carriers, is this video saying that electrons move at 5 cm/hour????



If electrons are that slow how can circuits work?



The video says that electric fields move at light speed.



So, I am not understanding anything.



I aways thought the whole magic were dome by electrons...



What is the correct explanation for this?



Charges, electrons and current?



Is the effect similar to a newton cradle, where one ball knocks the first one and the force is transmitted through the chain?



enter image description here










share|improve this question
























  • One of these days I'll have to write a canonical answer, but see electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/245610/… : basically your intuition that it's like the Newtons cradle is correct. For almost all purposes you should ignore electrons.
    – pjc50
    6 hours ago
















1














Let's talk about DC, a very simple circuit: a light bulb and a battery.



Some authors say that electrons move from negative to positive and current from positive from negative.



I always thought electrons moved in a wire at the light speed, but this video says that charges move very slow in a wire, about 5 centimeter per hour (2 inches per hour).



If electrons are charge carriers, is this video saying that electrons move at 5 cm/hour????



If electrons are that slow how can circuits work?



The video says that electric fields move at light speed.



So, I am not understanding anything.



I aways thought the whole magic were dome by electrons...



What is the correct explanation for this?



Charges, electrons and current?



Is the effect similar to a newton cradle, where one ball knocks the first one and the force is transmitted through the chain?



enter image description here










share|improve this question
























  • One of these days I'll have to write a canonical answer, but see electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/245610/… : basically your intuition that it's like the Newtons cradle is correct. For almost all purposes you should ignore electrons.
    – pjc50
    6 hours ago














1












1








1







Let's talk about DC, a very simple circuit: a light bulb and a battery.



Some authors say that electrons move from negative to positive and current from positive from negative.



I always thought electrons moved in a wire at the light speed, but this video says that charges move very slow in a wire, about 5 centimeter per hour (2 inches per hour).



If electrons are charge carriers, is this video saying that electrons move at 5 cm/hour????



If electrons are that slow how can circuits work?



The video says that electric fields move at light speed.



So, I am not understanding anything.



I aways thought the whole magic were dome by electrons...



What is the correct explanation for this?



Charges, electrons and current?



Is the effect similar to a newton cradle, where one ball knocks the first one and the force is transmitted through the chain?



enter image description here










share|improve this question















Let's talk about DC, a very simple circuit: a light bulb and a battery.



Some authors say that electrons move from negative to positive and current from positive from negative.



I always thought electrons moved in a wire at the light speed, but this video says that charges move very slow in a wire, about 5 centimeter per hour (2 inches per hour).



If electrons are charge carriers, is this video saying that electrons move at 5 cm/hour????



If electrons are that slow how can circuits work?



The video says that electric fields move at light speed.



So, I am not understanding anything.



I aways thought the whole magic were dome by electrons...



What is the correct explanation for this?



Charges, electrons and current?



Is the effect similar to a newton cradle, where one ball knocks the first one and the force is transmitted through the chain?



enter image description here







current charge theory electron






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 6 hours ago

























asked 6 hours ago









SpaceDog

437213




437213












  • One of these days I'll have to write a canonical answer, but see electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/245610/… : basically your intuition that it's like the Newtons cradle is correct. For almost all purposes you should ignore electrons.
    – pjc50
    6 hours ago


















  • One of these days I'll have to write a canonical answer, but see electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/245610/… : basically your intuition that it's like the Newtons cradle is correct. For almost all purposes you should ignore electrons.
    – pjc50
    6 hours ago
















One of these days I'll have to write a canonical answer, but see electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/245610/… : basically your intuition that it's like the Newtons cradle is correct. For almost all purposes you should ignore electrons.
– pjc50
6 hours ago




One of these days I'll have to write a canonical answer, but see electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/245610/… : basically your intuition that it's like the Newtons cradle is correct. For almost all purposes you should ignore electrons.
– pjc50
6 hours ago










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















2














In a metallic wire, electricity propagates as a field, effectively. Electrons move quickly and literally bump into other atoms which (usually) dislodges another electron. This continues down the conductor so the effects of electrical current are seen very quickly.



This is not how electric currents propagate in a superconductor, though.



In that sense, the velocity of electrical propagation is very fast (in a wire it is typically about 63% of the speed of light for reasons I won't go into here. It is known as the velocity factor).



Electric fields (or more accurately electromagnetic fields) propagate at the speed of light in free space.



Any given electron does not travel very far in each of these short hops, but they do move, and a specific electron will move quite slowly. This is known as drift velocity.






share|improve this answer





















  • brilliant explanation, thanks!
    – SpaceDog
    6 hours ago










  • Superconductors do allow small magnetic fields through known as fluxons.
    – Scientist Smith YT
    1 hour ago



















5














A very much simplified answer:



Compare the wire to a pipe filled with marbles.



As soon as you push a marble in, immediately another marble pops out of the pipe.



But the marble you have pushed in only travels very slowly towards the end.






share|improve this answer





















  • Very Good. I was suspecting something like that, thanks!
    – SpaceDog
    6 hours ago






  • 1




    @SpaceDog metals are totally jam-packed with movable electrons. (It's like Ben Franklin's electric fluid! But it's there all the time.) So, an electric circuit is like a drive-belt inside a pipe. That's why currents are closed-loop circles, and require "complete circuits." Notice that the path for current is through the dynamo coils and back out again? Also, the path is through every battery ...so no charge builds up inside. Batteries are "charge pumps," so when we "recharge" them, we're filling them with chemical fuel. (Charged batteries contain just as much electric charge as dead ones!)
    – wbeaty
    1 hour ago











Your Answer





StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["\$", "\$"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");

StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("schematics", function () {
StackExchange.schematics.init();
});
}, "cicuitlab");

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "135"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});














draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2felectronics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f414595%2fa-question-about-electrons-charges-and-current%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown

























2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes








2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









2














In a metallic wire, electricity propagates as a field, effectively. Electrons move quickly and literally bump into other atoms which (usually) dislodges another electron. This continues down the conductor so the effects of electrical current are seen very quickly.



This is not how electric currents propagate in a superconductor, though.



In that sense, the velocity of electrical propagation is very fast (in a wire it is typically about 63% of the speed of light for reasons I won't go into here. It is known as the velocity factor).



Electric fields (or more accurately electromagnetic fields) propagate at the speed of light in free space.



Any given electron does not travel very far in each of these short hops, but they do move, and a specific electron will move quite slowly. This is known as drift velocity.






share|improve this answer





















  • brilliant explanation, thanks!
    – SpaceDog
    6 hours ago










  • Superconductors do allow small magnetic fields through known as fluxons.
    – Scientist Smith YT
    1 hour ago
















2














In a metallic wire, electricity propagates as a field, effectively. Electrons move quickly and literally bump into other atoms which (usually) dislodges another electron. This continues down the conductor so the effects of electrical current are seen very quickly.



This is not how electric currents propagate in a superconductor, though.



In that sense, the velocity of electrical propagation is very fast (in a wire it is typically about 63% of the speed of light for reasons I won't go into here. It is known as the velocity factor).



Electric fields (or more accurately electromagnetic fields) propagate at the speed of light in free space.



Any given electron does not travel very far in each of these short hops, but they do move, and a specific electron will move quite slowly. This is known as drift velocity.






share|improve this answer





















  • brilliant explanation, thanks!
    – SpaceDog
    6 hours ago










  • Superconductors do allow small magnetic fields through known as fluxons.
    – Scientist Smith YT
    1 hour ago














2












2








2






In a metallic wire, electricity propagates as a field, effectively. Electrons move quickly and literally bump into other atoms which (usually) dislodges another electron. This continues down the conductor so the effects of electrical current are seen very quickly.



This is not how electric currents propagate in a superconductor, though.



In that sense, the velocity of electrical propagation is very fast (in a wire it is typically about 63% of the speed of light for reasons I won't go into here. It is known as the velocity factor).



Electric fields (or more accurately electromagnetic fields) propagate at the speed of light in free space.



Any given electron does not travel very far in each of these short hops, but they do move, and a specific electron will move quite slowly. This is known as drift velocity.






share|improve this answer












In a metallic wire, electricity propagates as a field, effectively. Electrons move quickly and literally bump into other atoms which (usually) dislodges another electron. This continues down the conductor so the effects of electrical current are seen very quickly.



This is not how electric currents propagate in a superconductor, though.



In that sense, the velocity of electrical propagation is very fast (in a wire it is typically about 63% of the speed of light for reasons I won't go into here. It is known as the velocity factor).



Electric fields (or more accurately electromagnetic fields) propagate at the speed of light in free space.



Any given electron does not travel very far in each of these short hops, but they do move, and a specific electron will move quite slowly. This is known as drift velocity.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered 6 hours ago









Peter Smith

13.5k11237




13.5k11237












  • brilliant explanation, thanks!
    – SpaceDog
    6 hours ago










  • Superconductors do allow small magnetic fields through known as fluxons.
    – Scientist Smith YT
    1 hour ago


















  • brilliant explanation, thanks!
    – SpaceDog
    6 hours ago










  • Superconductors do allow small magnetic fields through known as fluxons.
    – Scientist Smith YT
    1 hour ago
















brilliant explanation, thanks!
– SpaceDog
6 hours ago




brilliant explanation, thanks!
– SpaceDog
6 hours ago












Superconductors do allow small magnetic fields through known as fluxons.
– Scientist Smith YT
1 hour ago




Superconductors do allow small magnetic fields through known as fluxons.
– Scientist Smith YT
1 hour ago













5














A very much simplified answer:



Compare the wire to a pipe filled with marbles.



As soon as you push a marble in, immediately another marble pops out of the pipe.



But the marble you have pushed in only travels very slowly towards the end.






share|improve this answer





















  • Very Good. I was suspecting something like that, thanks!
    – SpaceDog
    6 hours ago






  • 1




    @SpaceDog metals are totally jam-packed with movable electrons. (It's like Ben Franklin's electric fluid! But it's there all the time.) So, an electric circuit is like a drive-belt inside a pipe. That's why currents are closed-loop circles, and require "complete circuits." Notice that the path for current is through the dynamo coils and back out again? Also, the path is through every battery ...so no charge builds up inside. Batteries are "charge pumps," so when we "recharge" them, we're filling them with chemical fuel. (Charged batteries contain just as much electric charge as dead ones!)
    – wbeaty
    1 hour ago
















5














A very much simplified answer:



Compare the wire to a pipe filled with marbles.



As soon as you push a marble in, immediately another marble pops out of the pipe.



But the marble you have pushed in only travels very slowly towards the end.






share|improve this answer





















  • Very Good. I was suspecting something like that, thanks!
    – SpaceDog
    6 hours ago






  • 1




    @SpaceDog metals are totally jam-packed with movable electrons. (It's like Ben Franklin's electric fluid! But it's there all the time.) So, an electric circuit is like a drive-belt inside a pipe. That's why currents are closed-loop circles, and require "complete circuits." Notice that the path for current is through the dynamo coils and back out again? Also, the path is through every battery ...so no charge builds up inside. Batteries are "charge pumps," so when we "recharge" them, we're filling them with chemical fuel. (Charged batteries contain just as much electric charge as dead ones!)
    – wbeaty
    1 hour ago














5












5








5






A very much simplified answer:



Compare the wire to a pipe filled with marbles.



As soon as you push a marble in, immediately another marble pops out of the pipe.



But the marble you have pushed in only travels very slowly towards the end.






share|improve this answer












A very much simplified answer:



Compare the wire to a pipe filled with marbles.



As soon as you push a marble in, immediately another marble pops out of the pipe.



But the marble you have pushed in only travels very slowly towards the end.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered 6 hours ago









Oldfart

7,9462825




7,9462825












  • Very Good. I was suspecting something like that, thanks!
    – SpaceDog
    6 hours ago






  • 1




    @SpaceDog metals are totally jam-packed with movable electrons. (It's like Ben Franklin's electric fluid! But it's there all the time.) So, an electric circuit is like a drive-belt inside a pipe. That's why currents are closed-loop circles, and require "complete circuits." Notice that the path for current is through the dynamo coils and back out again? Also, the path is through every battery ...so no charge builds up inside. Batteries are "charge pumps," so when we "recharge" them, we're filling them with chemical fuel. (Charged batteries contain just as much electric charge as dead ones!)
    – wbeaty
    1 hour ago


















  • Very Good. I was suspecting something like that, thanks!
    – SpaceDog
    6 hours ago






  • 1




    @SpaceDog metals are totally jam-packed with movable electrons. (It's like Ben Franklin's electric fluid! But it's there all the time.) So, an electric circuit is like a drive-belt inside a pipe. That's why currents are closed-loop circles, and require "complete circuits." Notice that the path for current is through the dynamo coils and back out again? Also, the path is through every battery ...so no charge builds up inside. Batteries are "charge pumps," so when we "recharge" them, we're filling them with chemical fuel. (Charged batteries contain just as much electric charge as dead ones!)
    – wbeaty
    1 hour ago
















Very Good. I was suspecting something like that, thanks!
– SpaceDog
6 hours ago




Very Good. I was suspecting something like that, thanks!
– SpaceDog
6 hours ago




1




1




@SpaceDog metals are totally jam-packed with movable electrons. (It's like Ben Franklin's electric fluid! But it's there all the time.) So, an electric circuit is like a drive-belt inside a pipe. That's why currents are closed-loop circles, and require "complete circuits." Notice that the path for current is through the dynamo coils and back out again? Also, the path is through every battery ...so no charge builds up inside. Batteries are "charge pumps," so when we "recharge" them, we're filling them with chemical fuel. (Charged batteries contain just as much electric charge as dead ones!)
– wbeaty
1 hour ago




@SpaceDog metals are totally jam-packed with movable electrons. (It's like Ben Franklin's electric fluid! But it's there all the time.) So, an electric circuit is like a drive-belt inside a pipe. That's why currents are closed-loop circles, and require "complete circuits." Notice that the path for current is through the dynamo coils and back out again? Also, the path is through every battery ...so no charge builds up inside. Batteries are "charge pumps," so when we "recharge" them, we're filling them with chemical fuel. (Charged batteries contain just as much electric charge as dead ones!)
– wbeaty
1 hour ago


















draft saved

draft discarded




















































Thanks for contributing an answer to Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2felectronics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f414595%2fa-question-about-electrons-charges-and-current%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







Popular posts from this blog

Morgemoulin

Scott Moir

Souastre