- #1
Doug1943
- 37
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Electric current is often analogized to water under pressure in pipes.
When water is moving through a pipe, the energy of the system is the potential energy of whatever is giving the water its pressure -- a column of water, say -- and the kinetic energy of the water molecules as they move. Increase either their velocity (by increasing the pressure), or their total mass-per-unit-time passing a given point (by substituting a larger pipe for a smaller one, for example), and you increase the total energy they are carrying.
Now, water pressure is usually analogized to voltage, and the amount of water flowing per second, to electric current.
Is the energy in an electric current -- let us say, a direct current, to start with -- the kinetic energy of the electrons? The water-current-to-electric-current seems straightforward: water molecules = electrons. Litres per second is coulombs per second.
But what about the voltage? Does higher voltage (more energy) manifest itself in faster electrons? Is the energy of an electric current just kinetic energy, the way it is for a water current?
Since they are actually not moving that fast (the electrons, as opposed to the wave that passes down the electrons in the conductor), how can this be so?
When water is moving through a pipe, the energy of the system is the potential energy of whatever is giving the water its pressure -- a column of water, say -- and the kinetic energy of the water molecules as they move. Increase either their velocity (by increasing the pressure), or their total mass-per-unit-time passing a given point (by substituting a larger pipe for a smaller one, for example), and you increase the total energy they are carrying.
Now, water pressure is usually analogized to voltage, and the amount of water flowing per second, to electric current.
Is the energy in an electric current -- let us say, a direct current, to start with -- the kinetic energy of the electrons? The water-current-to-electric-current seems straightforward: water molecules = electrons. Litres per second is coulombs per second.
But what about the voltage? Does higher voltage (more energy) manifest itself in faster electrons? Is the energy of an electric current just kinetic energy, the way it is for a water current?
Since they are actually not moving that fast (the electrons, as opposed to the wave that passes down the electrons in the conductor), how can this be so?
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