The discussion centers on the differences between Direct Current (DC) and Alternating Current (AC) in terms of energy transfer and electron behavior. It is established that energy in both AC and DC is transmitted through the electromagnetic field, not merely through the movement of electrons. The conversation emphasizes that while DC represents a continuous flow of electrons, AC involves alternating directions of current due to the changing polarity of voltage. Key conclusions include that electric current is caused by potential difference, and that the flow of current is conventionally modeled as positive charges moving, despite electrons being the actual charge carriers.
PREREQUISITESElectrical engineers, physics students, educators, and anyone interested in understanding the fundamentals of electricity and circuit behavior.
Nihad Nazmul said:
Nihad Nazmul said:
This is a problem that many people have but it is not a real problem. The Conventional Current was a concept which was used long before anyone had an idea of the existence of electrons. Electric current was just some quantity - a substance, of a sort, that could (and still can) be treated as a fluid that flows according to Potential difference ('downhill'). Someone chose a Sign for the connections on a standard battery (or on a piece of insulator that had been rubbed with something) and that choice was adopted universally and classical electromagnetic theory was developed using this convention. It is all perfectly consistent, with Current flowing from + to -. A long time later, the particle that conveys charge in metals were discovered- the electron. You can just accept this and there is no problem with the fact that these charge carriers happen to have a negative charge. Negative charges flowing one way will correspond to the positive charges flowing the other way. (If you look at solid state Physics, you can have electrons flowing one way and holes flowing the other - that's fine. Also you could imaging positrons flowing in a 'wire' made up of 'Anticopper' and then students would have no problem. (Ignore the practical problem of actually producing a wire of Anticopper!)Nihad Nazmul said:
It is not a 'quantum jump" as in the Bohr atom because it is happening in condensed matter and not just a single atom. I really think you should read (or re-read) a decent textbook, now that you have a number of correct ideas about all this. Your problem is that you are not joining them up in a coherent way. Asking a whole random selection of questions is not the best way to get on top of this. You need a structure for your knowledge and one cannot build one on ones own (unless one is exceptionally gifted - like Max Planck). I have a feeling that, even if you were to get answers to this particular list of questions, you would simply come up with another set. Try to approach this in the conventional way and it will deal with questions, one at a time, and in a formal way. It really does work very well for other people, you know.Nihad Nazmul said:
As Drakkith said, the field transports the energy. Are you familiar with the Poynting vector and Poynting's theorem? I think that would be the next thing for you to explore.Nihad Nazmul said:
In other words, an electrical energy is transported through the insulators, not through the conductors. Quite shocking but trueDaleSpam said:
