Hi,
I'm currently taking first year physics in university and I have an online assignment due tonight. Due to it being saturday, I cannot contact any of the TAs or professors for help, and my friends and I are stumped.
I had 15 tries at answering this question and now I only have 2 left...
Because of resistance it would take a percievable period of time to turn a light on with a distant switch (say 10 ft away) if the electrons were not already "lined up" as you say.
(someone correct me if I'm wrong)
The drift speed of electrons in a copper wire is something around 0.0043m/s.
See...