Conventional current vs current?

[jamesfirst]

I was always taught that current was the flow of electrons, a direction which negatively charged particles flow

but now we started to talk about conventional current where the positive particles are flowing..

I'm so confused... what specific positive charge is flowing?? and how come people believe that it's the positive charge that is determined to be the current??

 

[Hootenanny]

I was always taught that current was the flow of electrons, a direction which negatively charged particles flow

but now we started to talk about conventional current where the positive particles are flowing..

I'm so confused... what specific positive charge is flowing?? and how come people believe that it's the positive charge that is determined to be the current??

In conventional wires, it is always the negative electrons which flow. However, it is possible to have a current composed of positively flowing particles. A problem arises since a flow of positive charge in one direction yields the same current as an equal flow of negative charge in the opposite direction. Therefore, the so called conventional current was introduced. so, by convention we always take the direction of current flow as if it is a flow of positive charges. That does not mean, however, that positive charges are actually flowing.

Does that make sense?

 

[jamesfirst]

So conventional current and current is basically antonyms to one another ?

 

[K^2]

Usually, when talking about circuits, word "current" means conventional current. The word "conventional" is just tacked on so that you wouldn't confuse it with a particle current, which does end up having opposite direction in conductors.

 

[Hootenanny]

So conventional current and current is basically antonyms to one another ?

No, they are not. As I said, it is perfectly possible to have a current composed of positive charges. In which case, the direction of conventional current and 'real' current coincide.

 

[jamesfirst]

So what about when conventional current flows through metals which has delocalised electrons??

Is it still considered to be the positive charge following ?

 

[Hootenanny]

So what about when conventional current flows through metals which has delocalised electrons??

Is it still considered to be the positive charge following ?

In conventional current, yes. The positive charges are consider to be flowing in the opposite direction of the negative charge.

 

[nikhil khatri]

rate of flow of electron is known as current.direction of current from high potential to low potential is taken as positive direction for the conviniency . so current in this direction is termed as conventional current and the direction of flow of electron is termed as electronic current.