Does electricity have mass?

Answer 1

Technically yes, because electrons do have mass, but it is negligible. An electron has a mass of 9 x 10^-31 kg. Still, if you had an infinitely sensitive measuring device, a negatively charged object would be heavier than an identical object with no charge.

Answer 2

Technically, yes. Electrons, the particles that "orbit" the nucleus of an atom, have mass. An electric storage device, such as a battery or a capacitor, would have an excess of electrons, just waiting to move out. Amperage, which would be a measurement of the volume of electrons (how many) moving through a "hot" wire, would also technically have weight. Don't confuse this with "voltage" which is a measurement of the pressure differential of a charged side and ground (the force that the electrons are producing while trying to equalize the two sides).
Think of it as the difference between water pressure (voltage) and the volume of water actually moving through a hose (amperage) A fire hose and a pressure washer both might have alot of force (voltage) but the fire hose is going to have a lot more water (amperage)

Answer 3

The simple answer is no. Electricity is a flow of particles (electrons) which are already present in a material - it's not a substance in itself. Therefore, a wire with electricity flowing through it doesn't weigh any more than a wire without electricity flowing through it.

However, you could argue that in layman's terms, electricity is a form of energy, and energy is equivalent to mass according to E=MC squared. However, the amount of matter equivalent to even a huge amount of energy is tiny - which is why atom bombs are so very powerful when they release this energy from the small amount of uranium/plutonium they contain.

Answer 4

It does in fact. Since current = C/s= A, and C is provided by electrons, which happen to have mass, then electricity has mass. Ex: how much mass (of electrons) goes through a cable in 60,0s if the current is 10A
10A = ?/ 60s
?= 600 Coulombs
Since every electron has a charge of 1,602x10^-19 C and a mass of 9,11x10^-31 kg
then:
600C*(1e-/1,602x10^-19C)*
(9,11x10^-31kg/1e-)= 3,41x10^-9 kg

Answer 5

Yes. Electrons have mass. That is why electricity cannot reach the speed of light.

Answer 6

no it doesn't

Electricity is the flow (ie movement) of electrons. It's not something that you can collect in a physical form in the same way as you can't contain kinetic energy - you can only store it in a different form (know as potential). In electronics this is known as potential difference.

hth

christo

Answer 7

"Electricity" is the flow of electrons so you can't really say it has mass, but electrons do.

Answer 8

weigh a battery discharge weigh again charge weigh again etc etc a fully charged car battery weighs more than a discharged one case closed. p.s i suggest using an industrial type sensitive scale for accuracy. one accurate to 1-1000th gram should do fine.

Answer 9

No