electron flow and pulse travel down a wire?

Question

I understand the idea that if there are excess electrons on one end of a wire, and a shortage on the other, emf will cause elctron flow. I also understand such flow is relatively slow. But if we look at the propagation of a pulse from one end of a wire to the other, it is fast, light speed. It is as if the electrons at the far end, were communicated to via some light speed means, of the abundance of electrons at the initiating end. But, I've never read of any wave or particle theory accounting for electron flow within a conductor. Whats up?

Answer 1

It's true that for the individual electron, current flow is relatively slow. But there are lots of them. So the number of electrons passing a point in a wire is large.