In our textbook it says "By convention, current flows from the positive electrode of a cell to the negative electrode. Actually, it is the electrons that are flowing. The flow of currnet and electrons are opposite in direction." I know that electrons in the external circuit flow from the negative terminal to the positive terminal, but the sentence in our textbook seems quite confusing. Can someone please kindly explain this? Thanks!
2007-03-10 22:53:39 · 1 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
I can give you an analogy. Imagine you are looking down at a long line of traffic that is slowly moving forward. As the cars are moving forward, you would also observe that the gaps between the cars are moving backward. It's the same with current and electrons. By convention, we say that electrons flow from the negative terminal to the positive terminal. We could also argue that the gaps between the electrons (i.e. the current) flows in the opposite direction, ie. from the positive terminal to the negative terminal. Hope that helps.
2007-03-11 00:33:49 · answer #1 · answered by Professor Plum 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋