How do atoms get their electrons back when they lose them to make electricity?

Question

If electricity is the movement of free electrons across a conductor. Does the conductor or element (such as copper) change since it's losing electrons? or does the atom create more electrons on it's own? I'm thinking that the electricity cycles in a loop which means that the electrons are constantly returning to it's original atom. But when you get arc's or when a power line is cut and the loop is severed, how do the atoms get their electrons back?

Answer 1

A metal is considered as atoms in a "sea" of electrons that are lightly held in the outermost shells, 2 per shell in the case of copper. Think of a copper wire hooked in a circuit. As electrons move out of one end of the wire, they come in through the other end, sent by the generator. Sort of like a long freight train, the first car moves past a particular spot long before the last car does, so you don't have to think about sending an individual electron from the generator to the appliance, just start them moving.

Answer 2

Well it depends on how the electricity is created. Electricity in a charged capacitor is just a static charge that will flow to anywhere that will accept the electrons. A battery consists of a positively charged side and a negatively charged side. The negative (or cathode) side has extra electrons which flow across the circuit to the positive (or anode) side of the battery. Electricity generated with a turbine is more like a loop like what you're thinking. The moving magnetic field around a conductive metal is what causes the electrons to flow in one direction. The atoms losing electrons causes them to be positively charged, which makes them readily accept the electrons coming in from the other end of the circuit.