the electricity moving faster than the speed of light? Electricity moves as fast as light if you don't know...
2006-08-21 06:35:45 · 9 answers · asked by dil.pill 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
Individual electrons move in a wire at an average speed measured in mm/hr, it really is that slow and is known as the drift velocity.
If you initiate a current in one part of the wire, the effect of the current travels down the wire at about 75% of the speed of light.
If you try to send signals down the wire, the speed of the signal will depend on many things such as it's frequency and the medium surrounding the wire but using the 75% figure is a good rule of thumb.
2006-08-21 08:01:23 · answer #1 · answered by Stewart H 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The electrons (making up the electrical current) within the wire are not moving at the speed of light despite the fact that the electrical influence is.
Electrons have mass and thus can never travel at, or faster than, the speed of light.
2006-08-21 09:14:38 · answer #2 · answered by mrjeffy321 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Electricity in general does not move at the speed of light, but...
Speed is relative. So technically the garage door is moving faster then me relative to some object very far away, if you can move the electricity relative to something else faster then the light moves relative to that object then yes, you have just moved electricity faster the the speed of light.
Gotta love science.
2006-08-21 08:48:09 · answer #3 · answered by bionicl00 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its velocity in the axial direction of the wire will remain the same. And no, it doesn't move at the speed of light. An electric cord does not transport massless photons, but rather electrons through a physical medium. There are a number of sources for scattering in electron transport that decrease the overall speed.
2006-08-21 06:44:59 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Electrons do not move through a wire at the speed of light. Their 'drift velocity' (the overall velocity averaged out over countless random interactions) is on the order of 0.1 cm/s.
The reason you get light instantly when you flip a switch is not because electrons are flowing through the wire quickly, but because of the magnetic field that is established instantaneously as the electrons start moving (Physics 1 - moving charge creates a magnetic field).
2006-08-21 06:52:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
no electricity does not move as fast as light in wires .im sorry to tell you that.
2006-08-21 06:43:31 · answer #6 · answered by nima_iran_1985 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
electrical energy is composed of electrons in action. the electrical powered field, even with the shown fact that, does not require the electron to get to the fringe of the sector, it propagates previous the electron. Electromagnetic waves are carried by photons. To make a crude analogy, it may be like asking "why does the easy spreads out whilst the easy bulb keeps to be interior the comparable place?"
2016-12-11 12:41:47 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
electrons travel at high velocities of which i dont' know if anyone has measured
2006-08-21 07:07:57 · answer #8 · answered by shiara_blade 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yeah it does
2006-08-21 06:41:22 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋