Current: the speed of charges vs the number of charges past a point

[vanhees71]

The wire is neutral in the frame, where the conduction electrons are at rest, not in the wire rest frame! See my new FAQ article (which I hope I can also post to the Insights section, which seems not to work right now):

https://itp.uni-frankfurt.de/~hees/pf-faq/relativistic-dc.pdf

 

[jartsa]

The wire is neutral in the frame, where the conduction electrons are at rest, not in the wire rest frame! See my new FAQ article (which I hope I can also post to the Insights section, which seems not to work right now):

https://itp.uni-frankfurt.de/~hees/pf-faq/relativistic-dc.pdf

I have read the first chapter.

A classical physicist standing next to a wire where current in ramping up sees conducting electrons rearranging themselves, she explains that by the self induced Hall effect.

A classical physicist co-moving with the conducting electrons also sees conducting electrons rearranging themselves. He can not explain it. Some electrons even move against the force of gravity - without any reason that a classical physicsist is aware of.Only relativity can explain it.

 

[David Lewis]

Current is determined as the amount of charge moving past a certain point of reference... in 1 second.

To calculate current, the amount of charge that passes may be measured over any amount of time.

For every electron entering the locomotive via the overhead wire, there is an electron leaving via the ground or the other overhead wire so how would that affect your model?

To avoid charge imbalance, the entering and leaving must happen at the same time, and not all frames will agree on simultaneity.