Please refer to where electrons are and where they are transferred to ... and how.
I know that with a cell/ battery electrons accumulate at the negative terminal and travel to the positive terminal.
Are some lost to the wire- as heat and light. I thought there were free electrons in the wires... do these move and if so why? Soooo confused.
2007-11-24 02:09:06 · 8 answers · asked by Muppet 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
think of electrons as water in a pipe, battery as a pump
pipe goes from exit of pump to inlet
voltage is pressure--no pressure if pump is off
current is flow--u need pressure to get flow
there always is water (electrons) in the pipe
2007-11-24 03:32:44 · answer #1 · answered by jamus d woespuss 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Rich Z is a bit mixed up. Wire in a cable that carries an alternating voltage isn't moving. The wires are wrapped together to assist in reducing noise in the wire, or what might be induced in the cable from other sources.
A resistor, as stated by someone else does NOT cause current to flow. To make a point from another answer, a piece of wire connected to a battery from one terminal to the other is going to result is a massive flow of electrons from one terminal to the other. That wire is going to get very hot, very quickly.
If you will just go back over your text in your books and think about it, I believe that you can answer the questions that you have posed, as well as understand just what is going on. Don't add anything to the text that is not there. You need to grasp the basics of the valence bands of conductor atoms, such as copper. You need to see that if a valence band does not have enough electrons in it, then it can accept electrons from another atom, if they are forced to move from where they were to another atom. These things are the basics that if you do not understand them, all the explanations in the world are not going to make any sense to you. Go hit the books again, it'll do you god to search it out for yourself.
2007-11-24 21:10:17 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are already lots of electrons in metal wires. When you connect a battery it pulls electrons out at the + and pushes more in at the -. So a current is a flow of electrons move around the wire from - to +. If you take the battery away the electrons stop moving because nothing is pushing them. They are still there. Heat and light comes from slowing down electrons, not from destroying them.
2007-11-24 10:14:39 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
If the wires move in a magnetic field a voltage can be introduced that causes current. That is why AC cables have both wires wrapped around each other in a fabricated cable or are both in the same conduit if they are pulled single wires.
2007-11-24 10:45:37 · answer #4 · answered by Rich Z 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Current and voltage are not generated. Those are only labels to identify characteristics of electricity, or, in psychological terms, the "behavior" of electricity.
Electricity is generated by moving an electron from an atom that has an extra electron in an unstable state to an atom that has an unstable state to attract an electron.
2007-11-24 10:46:54 · answer #5 · answered by redscott77092 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
just a closed circuit, with no components, just wires will have a small current going through it.
Due to what is call parasitic resistance. It is just a fact that even conductors like copper, have a small resistance to electric charge. This current would be extremely small however.
Resistors dont just limit the flow of current, but they cause the flow to begin with, much like a hole in the bottom of a water tank.
2007-11-24 11:48:47 · answer #6 · answered by brownian_dogma 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
current is generated by magnet
2007-11-24 10:14:48 · answer #7 · answered by water_lilly_53 1 · 0⤊ 5⤋
cant have current without a resistive load,
2007-11-24 10:12:37 · answer #8 · answered by rich2481 7 · 0⤊ 5⤋