Thread: Basic electrical current theory trouble

Hello;
First off, Im a total n00b
Im interested how does the electrical current comes to be. Are the electrons only on the conductor, and when you create a electrical circuit by connecting the opposite poles together they become mobile because of voltage? Or are they also somewhere else, in a battery for instance?
And how does the AC work by alternating the voltage? The electrons move to one end and when the voltage reverses, they move to the other? Like zig-zag?

Thanks

Bob

Electrons are everywhere, but in metals there are a lot of free electrons that move easily. You do not create an electrical circuit by connecting opposite poles together. That would be a dead short. In a d-c circuit you want to connect the positive pole to one end of the circuit and negative to the other. The electrons move through the circuti, so they have to go through the wires, the battery, and everything else in the circuit. In an a-c circuit, the electrons move first toward one end then toward the other. The actual distance moved by the electrons is very small, so it would not be accurate to say they move from one end to the other. It is usually a sine wave rather than a zig-zag.

Originally Posted by Harold14370

Electrons are everywhere, but in metals there are a lot of free electrons that move easily. You do not create an electrical circuit by connecting opposite poles together. That would be a dead short. In a d-c circuit you want to connect the positive pole to one end of the circuit and negative to the other. The electrons move through the circuti, so they have to go through the wires, the battery, and everything else in the circuit. In an a-c circuit, the electrons move first toward one end then toward the other. The actual distance moved by the electrons is very small, so it would not be accurate to say they move from one end to the other. It is usually a sine wave rather than a zig-zag.

Thank you fot your reply mr. Harold. So the charges, or electrons flow from one end of the battery to the other, or from one contact pin inside a wall socket to the other circulary? So when I close the switch they start to flow in one direction inside the conductor and then through the the inside of the battery and they repeat this until I open the switch. Is this right thinking?

Originally Posted by bobby_wales

Originally Posted by Harold14370

Electrons are everywhere, but in metals there are a lot of free electrons that move easily. You do not create an electrical circuit by connecting opposite poles together. That would be a dead short. In a d-c circuit you want to connect the positive pole to one end of the circuit and negative to the other. The electrons move through the circuti, so they have to go through the wires, the battery, and everything else in the circuit. In an a-c circuit, the electrons move first toward one end then toward the other. The actual distance moved by the electrons is very small, so it would not be accurate to say they move from one end to the other. It is usually a sine wave rather than a zig-zag.

Thank you fot your reply mr. Harold. So the charges, or electrons flow from one end of the battery to the other, or from one contact pin inside a wall socket to the other circulary? So when I close the switch they start to flow in one direction inside the conductor and then through the the inside of the battery and they repeat this until I open the switch. Is this right thinking?

That's right. It might help to think of the battery as a pump, the electrons as a fluid, and the wires as pipes.