Positive and neagtive charge carriers current

[lufc88]

What would happen hypothetically if there was a positive charged particle the same size as an electron (that wasn't antimatter), that carried current in the opposite direction in a wire to a normal conventional current in another wire? According to the Lorentz force they would attract so again could these wires carry current in the opposite direction and alternate so both ends of the wire would be receiving current at exactly the same time? Wouldn't this mean that it would be more efficient than normal current?

Could charge ever be artificially induced in a material at a particle level giving a neutron a positive charge or an electron a positive one?

 

[Dale]

This happens all the time in plasmas and electrolytes (except for the "same size" bit). In each case there are both positive and negative charge carriers at the same time. So typically a current in a plasma or an electrolyte will consist of motion of both types of charge carriers in opposite directions.

 

[lufc88]

I've heard there are things called thyratron's as well and that they can handle much greater currents than similar hard vacuum valves/tubes since the positive ions carry considerable current.

So the other thing I'm asking is could we ever change a particles charge somehow or is this impossible?

 

[Dale]

So the other thing I'm asking is could we ever change a particles charge somehow or is this impossible?

A particle's charge is part of what defines the particle. E.g. the negative charge is part of the definition of an electron. So, if you changed its charge to positive then it would no longer be an electron.

Also, charge is conserved. So if you changed one particle from positive to negative then you would have to simultaneously change another from negative to positive.

 

[Naty1]

Holes in semiconductors are routinely utilized to describe observed current flow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor#Holes:_electron_absence_as_a_charge_carrier


The positron or antielectron is the antiparticle or the antimatter counterpart of the electron. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positron

But as Dalespam notes, it is no longer an "electron".

 

[sophiecentaur]

Holes in semiconductors are routinely utilized to describe obsevred current flow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor#Holes:_electron_absence_as_a_charge_carrier

The Hole, in semiconductors is really only a way of looking at things. It doesn't actually involve any ions moving about. If they did, the material wouldn't be in the Solid State - it would have to be liquid.

 

[Drakkith]

According to the Lorentz force they would attract so again could these wires carry current in the opposite direction and alternate so both ends of the wire would be receiving current at exactly the same time? Wouldn't this mean that it would be more efficient than normal current?

I don't believe so, and it would probably be hell on certain electronic components that depend on a one-way flow of current such as a diode. It would take energy to move these particles, so I would guess you would get half the current as normal moving in each direction using the same amount of power.

 

[sophiecentaur]

The definition of current pays no heed to the direction of the actual charge carriers. After all, it was a long time before they realized that the direction flow of the carriers was the opposite to the flow of the conventional current. This is all a bit bogus, I think.

 

[lufc88]

Thanks for the replies everyone. What sort of currents are there in plasmas could you tell me more about them?

 

[Dale]

I don't know exactly what you mean by "sorts" of currents, but in a hydrogen plasma like the sun you basically have protons and electrons as free charge carriers. So any e-field will send electrons one way and protons the other making a total current density which is the sum of the current densities of the protons and electrons separately.