Understanding the Nature of Electricity: Flow of Electrons or Electric Charge?

[truesearch]

You are not wasting anybodies time!
No one is forced to post here! It is very satisfying to be able to help and there is so much expertise here that think we are all still learning.
We are all here for the same reason.

 

[sophiecentaur]

H'mm, ok well if there is a single particle of some charge, and a photon comes buy, would the particle move on one direction for half the wavelength then in the opposite for the other half? (and not get very far?)

Thanks

I think you mean half the period? But yes, basically.
This is the grey zone between QM and Classical.
There is a situation in the Ionosphere where there are free electrons that can be 'seen' to 'vibrate' as a radio wave passes. Again, this is because the energy gaps involved for a free electron in a very low density plasma are very small and a classical approach works fine by treating the plasma as a conductor with the electrons moving one way and the much heavier ions moving (a smaller distance) the other way, as the fields vary around them. Because the electrons are not in a metal, they actually do move a significant distance in the time period of a 1MHz radio wave.

If you don't have access to textbooks then trawl around the net for .org and .edu sites for more reliable opinions. Beware, there are some dreadful, cranky and harmful sites that may read as gospel. Look for a majority opinion if you get confused.

 

[toneboy1]

I think you mean half the period? But yes, basically.
This is the grey zone between QM and Classical.
There is a situation in the Ionosphere where there are free electrons that can be 'seen' to 'vibrate' as a radio wave passes. Again, this is because the energy gaps involved for a free electron in a very low density plasma are very small and a classical approach works fine by treating the plasma as a conductor with the electrons moving one way and the much heavier ions moving (a smaller distance) the other way, as the fields vary around them. Because the electrons are not in a metal, they actually do move a significant distance in the time period of a 1MHz radio wave.

If you don't have access to textbooks then trawl around the net for .org and .edu sites for more reliable opinions. Beware, there are some dreadful, cranky and harmful sites that may read as gospel. Look for a majority opinion if you get confused.

Thanks for the advice! There is an art to 'trawling', yes I've seen a lot of contradictory information on subjects where you would expect only people who know what they are talking about would contribute to.

I realize in hind-sight that I phrased my question poorly, intuitively I was thinking that only the E part of the photon would stimulate a dipole moment or electrons. I think you answered my queries never-the-less.

TYVM!