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How fast does an Electric Current travel along a Conducting Wire
? Does the Speed depend on the Conductor Material ?
In simple terms, current can be
defined as the rate at which charges flow past a point in a
circuit. Energy flows fast, yet an electric current has a very
slow flow. Electric charges too flow very slowly. In AC circuits
for instance, it does not move forward at all, instead it sits
in one place and vibrates.
There is a substance within all metals which can move. This
substance goes under different names: the Sea of Charge, or the
Electron Sea, or the Electron Gas, or "charge." Although many of
us tend to call this electrical energy as "electricity,” it is
not electricity. To be precise it is electric charge which is
not energy.
An electric current has varying speeds and as the wire becomes
thinner, the speed increases. Just as the speed of water
increases when a large amount of water flows into a smaller
channel, the speed of current increases when it flows into a
thinner wire. The speed of current in the flashlight of a
lantern will be faster than the speed in the conductors of the
same lantern. One cannot determine the actual speed unless we
are aware of the thickness of the wire as well as the value
(amperes) of the current in the wire.
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