what is the speed with which the electrons travel in a conductor carrying an electric current?
148066
Goring nailed this one. The answer is definitely not "The speed of light". In fact the eletrons in a condustor may be travelling as slaow as the speed of sound in that medium.\n\nThe electircla current itslef travels at a sizable fraction of lightspeed, but the electrons themselves never move at anyhting like that speed. That may seem odd, but electrons don't move in a conductor like water flowing in a pipe.\n\nInstead imagine electrons in a conductor as being like people  standing in line. When you tap one person on the shoulder she immediately takes a step forward then reaches out and taps the person in front of her, and that person takes  astep forward and taps the person in front of him and so foth. If the line is a mile long you can pass that tap to the end of the line in under second by that method, but each person only moved a few inches in that time. So the tap travels at 1 mile/second and each person only travels at inches/second.\n\nIn much the same way an electrical current gets passed along a conductor at high speeds, but the electrons remain relatively motionless. The current travels at reasonable fractions of light speed but the electrons may be travelling  at only a few times the speed of sound.
499681
Not the same electron, but the same number of electrons.  An electron enters one end of a wire, say, and winds up pushing an electron out the other side.  That's a simplified explanation, but that's essentially it.\n\nAnd just to make things confusing, the direction of the current is opposite to the direction of electron flow.  Go figure.
222936
Consider a conductor of uniform area of crossection A, length L. Let resistivity of conductor be S and resistance of material to current be R.\n\n  Then,  R = SL/A\n\n     Multiply and divide by mass of conductor say m and L\n\n          R = SL*L*m/L*A*m\n\n But L * A  = Volume = V\nAnd m / V   = Density = d\n\n  Hence,  R =  S*L*L*d/m\n          S =  (m*R/L*L)/d\n\nThus, Resistvity (S) is inversely proportional to density(d) when other quantities are kept constant.
128025
This is a relativistic problem The answer depents on the viewpoint of the observer. oscillation is a factor of time-mass-energy all of which are distorted relativisticaly. you are probably looking at an inverse square solution.\n\nContrary to popular belief electrons do not travel at relativistic velocities only their electromagnetic wave. This problem is further out there than you think.
171066
An electric current is the amount of charge flowing through a fixed position over a period of time. Current is measured in amperes, charge in coulombs, and time in seconds. So an ampere is the amount of coulombs (charge) that flow through a region in one second.\n\nPositive charged particles (protons) don't move; they stay is the atom's nucleus. Negative charged particles (electrons) surround the atom's nucleus and are free to move from atom to atom.\n\nSo more specifically current is the flow of positive charge. This means that the flow of current is in the opposite direction as the flow of electrons. Or current is the rate at which electrons flow out of a region.
266980
4. The current does not change.  I=E/R so multiplying the numerator and denominator by 0.50 results in the same answer, does it not?
151570
ohm's law states that current throught a conductor is directly proportional to the voltage applied to it.\n\nso,  i oc V\n=> i = R*V where R is proportionality constant called resistance of the conductor. \n\nResistance of a material is the electrical property which opposes the flow of electrons or current.
944873
Charge is difficult to explain without just saying how it interacts with other charge...\nBasically its a fundamental property of matter, like mass. The difference is, since charge comes in two types, positive and negative, in most large collections of matter, they cancel out and things are generally electrically neutral (have no charge). It responds to other charges through electromagnetism, much like masses affect each other through gravity, and is affected by electromagnetic fields created by currents, and magnetic fields also.\n\nCharge sits on a fundamental particle, or atom, or molecule, or larger particle. If that particle is in a collection of other particles, all of which are moving in the same direction, you have a current - a flow of charge. An ampére (or amp) is a unit meaning "one coloumb per second", or that at a point in a circuit where 1 amp is flowing, one coulomb of (positive) charge is passing per second. The coulomb is actually defined in terms of the ampere - it is the amount of charge that flows past a point in one second when the current is one amp.\n\nIn the example you've given, 240 C passes a point every five minutes, or every 300 seconds. So every second, (240/300) C/sec flows. This is the same as saying that 0.8 (=240/300) amps is "flowing" at that point. The matter is complicated by saying that current flows - it doesn't really, its a property of a stationary point in a circuit. The charge flows. If the rate of charge flow changes, so will the current, but saying that the current flows is a bit of a misnomer. But we're stuck with it.\n\nHope this helps.
918817
I will put it in the order that is easiest to understand.\n\nAmpere: the speed at which electrons pass through\n(1A = 1 coulomb/second, where 1 coulomb is 6.24x10^18 electrons)\n\nWatt: the speed at which work (in joules) is done\n(1W = 1Joule/second. A joule is the amount of work, in Newtons (if you've done physics) x meters,)\n\nVolt:  Watts per Ampere, or Joules per Coulomb\n\nOhm: The RESISTANCE, by Volts per Ampere.
368244
V (Voltage) = I (Current) x R (Resistance)\n\nOr (although you probably don't need it):\n\nJ (current density) = sigma (conductivity) x E (electric field)\n\nI always use wikipedia to look up stuff like this, it's very helpful for all kinds of info.
1053116
The formula is statistical quantum electrodynamics.  I don't wan to do the math bit.  So think of it like this.  All solids (like your pencil or pole) are collections of molecules held together by various types of bonds (molecular, covalent, ionic, metallic).  It is easy to visualize your pole as a crystalline structure of molecules.  When you push on one end, the structure distributes the force by adjusting bond angles.  Same thing if you push on the pencil, by the way.  The impulse of your forcing will create a front that travels through the solid.  This front is roughly equivalent to acoustic wave s in the same media.  Now, what is interesting, if you had a slight electrical charge (vacuum is a good insulator, so the chance of you having a charge is pretty good) and pushed the pole, and the pole conducted electricity, a electrical signal would be sent off along the pole.  This would travel much faster, some large fraction of the speed of light.  But, resistance will prevent it from being detected at the other end.\n\nLook at the Nevada test sight declassified videos of underground nuclear tests.  You can see the propagation of the shock wave in rock.  As visualized, the time it would take for the person at the other star to feel your push would be (for steel):  3 lyr = 2.84e16 m,  divide by 5960 m/s = 4.76e12 s, divide by 3.15e7 s/yr  and you end up with 150,000 yr before your push is felt at the other end.
200995
by electrolisis\nH2O------>H2+O2\ni.e by passing electric current
141754
Electromagnetic waves??? thats something ive never heard of before. how about posting the article or the website online? \n\ni do know that electricity can be "transmitted" by magnetism, via electromagnetic induction. according to faraday's law, a changing rate of magnetic flux linkage induces an electromotive force, and thus induces current on a conductor. check out faraday's law at wikipedia for more info dude...
413107
I will have to answer your question in two parts.\n\nElectrons in a piece of metal move around randomly with speeds of about 10^5 m/s. This is just the thermal velocity associated with the energy the electrons possess without any electric field present.\nWhen an electric field is applied, the electrons acquire a miniscule drift velocity. This velocity is miniscule compared to both the thermal velocity AND the speed of light.\nElectrons flowing as a current have speeds no where near the speed of light, whether you speak about the thermal or drift velocities.\n\nHOWEVER, the SIGNAL DOES travel close to the speed of light. Signal speeds are typically about 2/3 the speed of light. Just do a simple coaxial cable calculation to find a wave equation, and you can find the conduction speed.\nThe reason for this is that the Electric field applied can cause electrons ALL THROUGHOUT the circuit to move, and thus the speed of the signal is greater than the drift speed of the electrons.\n\nThe other answers are wrong in saying that ELECTRONS travel close to the speed of light.\nIt is correct to say that ELECTRICAL SIGNALS travel close to the speed of light, however.
962112
Yes the electricity is electron flow,which is the  number of electrons flowing in a cross section of a conductor for one oscilation .\nElectrons have an electrical mass which is equal to \n9.1 x10^-31kg.\nso if you take the number of electron per oscilation times the mass of the electron you have the total electrical mass flowing,\nYou take the total mass(assuming acceleration relative to the earth's center of mass)times 9.8 m/sec^2 would equal the weight of the electrical mass flowing.Hence a used battery would weight less.\nFor the simple reason that in the reaction gas has formed and evaporated and the excess electrons have dissipated and lost mass in the form of heat.\nThe weight difference can only be calculated. since the mass loss is very minute.The mass lost would be energy expanded by the battery divided by C^2.
34593
... or to use the hydraulic analogy, current is how much water (electrons) is flowing through the pipe.  Voltage is the water pressure.
438763
Potential difference (V) across the capacitor is directly in proportion to the charge (Q) in coulombs, calculated by Q =CV   Remember that C must be in Farads, so 1 microfarad is 1x10^-6 not 1, etc.\nSo values up your pd or Volts axis on the graph can be multiplied by capacitance to yield charge (Q).\nThe change in charge Q through the time period in question divided by the length of the time period (in seconds, not milliseconds etc) gives the average rate of movement of charge in Coulombs per Second (= Amps) over that period.\n(Also, the gradient at any point of the trace gives the current at any instant, but that is not what you asked.)