How Is Current Calculated from Electron Flow Rate?

[jbp890]

1. How do you find the current if it tells you how many electrons pass through cross section of a conductor each second



2. ...



3. ...I don't know the first thing to do about this. Just the number of electrons make me think of the equation Q = Ne ..but charge doesn't have to do with anything and current just makes me think of I = Q/t ...not that t has to do with anything either.

 

[hage567]

Charge has everything to do with it! What is the definition of current? You wrote it yourself, I = Q/t. So the current is the amount of charge passing a point in one second. If you know the number of electrons passing per second, then you know the charge passing per second.

 

[m2003]

I can understand your confusion about finding the current from the given information. The number of electrons passing through a cross section of a conductor per second is a measure of the electron flow rate or current. To calculate the current, we can use the equation I = Q/t, where I is the current, Q is the charge, and t is the time.

In this case, we can use the number of electrons passing through the cross section per second as the charge (Q), and the time (t) can be taken as one second. This means that the current would be equal to the number of electrons passing through the cross section per second.

However, it is important to note that this calculation assumes that all the electrons are passing through the cross section at the same time, which may not always be the case. Therefore, it is important to consider the distribution and velocity of the electrons in the conductor to accurately determine the current. Additionally, factors such as resistance and voltage also play a role in determining the current in a conductor.

In summary, while the number of electrons passing through a cross section per second can give us an estimate of the current, a more comprehensive analysis is needed to accurately determine the current in a conductor.