Have you ever wondered or probed how electric currents move from one point to another by the extension of a wire (cable)? Does it sound amazing to you or it looks like a form of witchcraft?
You plug your electrical appliance into an electric socket or switch the light bulb on and it turns out exactly as expected. There’s an electrical system responsible for the transfer of power from one point to another through a conductor, usually wire.
However, electricity itself does not travel but in electrical current or electrical energy form. These two combined make up the electricity and they travel within and outside the wire. While electrical current travels within the wire, electrical energy travels outside the wire, thus, speaking out of Physics, we could say electricity travels outside the wire. Electricity therefore would be used in this article to mean the electric current and electric energy.
How does electricity travel through a wire?
We move from one place through a means and get to our desired destination, the same way electricity travels. It moves through a medium which in this case is a wire and gets to its destination, which is the outlet or the output point for our daily usage.
Electricity travels in circuits. We close the circuit for electricity to flow when we switch on the light bulb or the wall socket while we switch off for the circuit to stay open hindering the flow of electricity.
In elementary physics, you must have learned that electricity is a form of power or energy generated from active particles such as electrons or protons. Electricity is more than that, electricity is a combination of electric current and electric energy.
When electricity is said to travel through wire, it is known as the electric current. This electric current is also known as charge flow creates a magnetic field around the wire with the electric energy to travel alongside it.
A conductor receives electrons from a source like a battery, these charged particles moving through the conductor with resistance generates voltage. In your homes, the conductor (wire) carries charge flow (electric current) from a power source to generate magnetic fields for the electrical energy.
Every time a power source is active like a generating plant turned on or a battery charged battery, electric current moves from the generator through the wire, the wire is full of atoms and it is in the atoms that electrons travel. A huge amount of electrons flow through the atoms and wires – trillions of electrons. Electrons are said to be the second smallest particle after neutrinos. When a switch is put on from the end side or output of a conductor, the electrons push themselves till the expected happens on the other end – either a light bulb comes on or an electrical appliance begins to work. Electrons do not move fast but because there are lots of them generated, they get to the power output in no longer time.
How Far Will electricity travel in a wire?
The distance of electricity travel is dependent on the type of conductor, its resistance, and the length of the wire. In physics, considering all the conditions above, there will be a calculation to estimate how fast electricity can travel. In deciding how far an electricity can travel, one may make the mistake of checking for transformed electrical energy. Electricity travels as far as the length of the conductor in as much as there’s a proper connection of the electrical system in place.
Well, for scholars of physics, putting into consideration all materials involved in an electrical system, they could tell the ampere of electricity supplied.
How fast does electricity travel through power lines?
The measure of electrical current (the rate at which electricity travels) has been estimated to be about 270,000 km/s, waoh, that fast? Yes!
The transmission lines held up high by towers at long distances from the dam or any power source come in high voltage but are stepped down at different power substations before getting to our homes. In the homes, we get power distributed from smaller transformers at a lowered voltage through a meter for monitoring and regulating the current. We understand the whole process better when power comes out of our sockets and switches, and we are able to turn on the tv or charge our phones.
Electron (produced by electric current) movements through a conductor will travel at 1mm per second when exposed to an electric field. Though the positioning of the wire alongside other properties of electricity could determine the exact speed at which it travels ideally, the speed of light is about
You think of how fast the light comes on when you turn the switch; know that electric current and electrical energy were already present in and outside a conductor immediately a source is connected but it can only be evident when a switch is turned on. While the electric current travels slow, electric energy moves very fast
Electric current (electricity) is a flow or movement of electrical charge. The electricity that is conducted through copper wires in your home consists of moving electrons. The protons and neutrons of the copper atoms do not move.
In the atom that carries electrons, protons and neutrons are also present but only the electron moves. Each electron travels slowly based on the direction of the wire. The drift of velocity in science says each electron moves at 0.02 cm per sec or 1.2 inches per minute depending on the gauge of copper in the wire. The movement of an electron is responsible for the movement of all other electrons present in the atom of a wire.
Electrons move instantly when a switch is on no matter the length of the wire. An activity commences within the electrical system at the turn of the witch, though the movement of the electron is slow, the energy on the other end is fast, so you don’t have to look through the movement in a wire or wait long for the expected action (lights coming on or electrical appliance starts to work) to happen at the flip of your switch.
Does electricity travel faster in a straight line vs round bends in wires?
The placement of the wire, straight, serial, parallel, or round does (not) determine how fast but the condition of the conductor and resistance determine this.
If we say electricity travels through straight lines, we may be right because we use transmission and distribution lines, not the line, and of course lines are straight.
But then, electricity also flows in circuits. The circuit from the world circle shows electricity needs to complete a circle but in essence, straight line or round bends in wires does not matter. Perhaps the distance at which the round bends were made may also affect the flow of electrons in the circuit.
It is important to emphasize that electric charge/flow is very different from energy. The charge-flow (current) is a flowing motion usually of electrons, and electrons are material particles, not energy particles. Although current is not always a flow of electrons: when electric current exists inside an electrolyte (in batteries, salt water, the earth, or in your flesh) it is a flow of charged atoms called ions. Current is a matter-flow, not an energy flow
Electricity actually does not travel but the electric current (charge flow) and electric energy travel to generate electricity.
Electrical energy should probably not be likened to sound waves. So, while sound travels inside the air-filled tube as compression waves traveling through the air molecules, electrical energy also travels via compression waves, with the waves traveling through the electrons within the wire. However, electrical energy does not travel through the wire as sound travels through air but instead always travels in the space outside of the wires. This is because electric energy is composed of electric and magnetic fields which are created by the moving electrons, but which exist in the space surrounding the wires.
The discovery here is that a wire does not contain all of the electricity; the outside of the cable also carries electricity as energy which affects the environment of the wire in some cases. This is why sometimes, one can suffer electric shock even without touching an exposed wire because of the electricity on outside the wire.