Tweakers' Asylum

RE: Have you tried it?

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Have you tried it? posted by Davey on August 04, 2020 at 20:21:20

To expound further on Davey's point, the idea that electrons or charge carriers are marching back and forth on a wire is a rather poor simplification. The current density at a given point is changing but the actual movement of charge carriers (drift velocity) is slow. The movement of free electrons in a metal is random and application of a voltage (electron force) causes a general shift of the electrons in the opposite direction of the field. In a conductive solid this rate of movement is about 1 mm/sec, and in a vacuum tube, it is about 1/10 the speed of light. This is different from the electromagnetic wave that is generated propagated (see Maxwell). Also the assignment of the direction of the carriers is entirely arbitrary based on the convention that electrons have a negative charge. So the idea that current flow is affected by the orientation of a fuse is just nonsense.

I married the perfect woman - the downside is that everything that goes wrong is my fault.

Follow Ups:

RE: Have you tried it? - hawkmoon 04:55:52 08/06/20 (0)