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Electric Current

Electric current is the flow of electric charge carriers through a conductor. The symbol for current is I or I. Current occurs when an external energy source like a battery forces the random motion of electrons in a conductor to flow mainly in one direction. The battery acts as a pump, attracting electrons at the positive terminal and transporting them to the negative terminal, causing a continuous flow of charge through the circuit known as electric current. Current is defined as the rate of flow of electric charge, meaning the amount of charge flowing through a cross-section of a conductor per unit time.

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Leo Gee
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130 views

Electric Current

Electric current is the flow of electric charge carriers through a conductor. The symbol for current is I or I. Current occurs when an external energy source like a battery forces the random motion of electrons in a conductor to flow mainly in one direction. The battery acts as a pump, attracting electrons at the positive terminal and transporting them to the negative terminal, causing a continuous flow of charge through the circuit known as electric current. Current is defined as the rate of flow of electric charge, meaning the amount of charge flowing through a cross-section of a conductor per unit time.

Uploaded by

Leo Gee
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Electric Current

Electric Current is the net displacement (flow or motion) of current carriers


(electrons or holes) through a cross – sectional area of a conductor such as
copper wire.

The symbol for the magnitude of the current is I or I, from the French word
“intensite.”

Any piece of conducting metal has a large number of free electrons that
move continuously at random, with a net zero displacement in any direction.
Only when an external force acts on the current carriers, as would be the
case if an external energy source (e.g. battery) is connected to the
conductor, will the current carriers be forced to move mainly in one
direction.

The electrons are


attracted to the positive
terminal of the source,
which acts as a pump,
transporting them back
(through chemical
reaction) toward the
negative terminal of this
source, again to continue
their drift along the
conductor. This
constitutes the
continuous motion of the
charge described as
electric current. The
motion of current
carriers in a wire
resembles the flow of
water molecules in a
pipe or a stream. Motion
is always a displacement
with respect to time.

In short, Current is the rate of flow of charge.


The word rate refers to variation with respect to time. This implies, if a
certain amount of charge Q did flow through a cross section of a conductor in
a time t, then the smaller t is, the faster is the motion (i.e. the higher must
be the current).

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