4 ms·
> ">ELECTRIC ENERGY is a wave that travels via a column of charge." I'm not an expert when it comes to electricity, so someone correct me if I'm wrong, but one
by ZenoArrow 10y ago
> ">ELECTRIC ENERGY is a wave that travels via a column of charge."
I'm not an expert when it comes to electricity, so someone correct me if I'm wrong, but one thing that has made sense to me when it comes to trying to understand electricity is that not all electrons have equal potential for work.
When studying electricity, you're often told the charge of an electron as a fixed quantity. However, if I've understood correctly, the work that an electron can do in conducting electric energy is not wholly described by the charge of the electron, it's also important to know the relationship that the electron has with the nucleus of the atom it orbits (i.e. the 'shelf' it's on).
To explain in another way, this analogy may be 'wrong' but I think it helps to think of electrons as capable of more work when they are less tightly coupled from the nucleus of an atom. The electrons that can do the most work are those in the outermost orbit of an atom. Whilst it may be wrong to say outer electrons are more charged than inner electrons, I think it might help in terms of visualisation. Again, correct me if I'm wrong.
- agumonkey 10y agoHow significant is this when you work at the level of Coulombs (high count of charges) ?
- ZenoArrow 10y agoSorry, I don't think I fully understand your question. Again, what I say could be wrong, but if there's a flow of charge it could mean the outer electrons have more charge than they can contain whilst remaining part of an atom, resulting in either electrons breaking free of atoms, or the energy being passed on to another atom (causing a chain reaction as each atom does the same). I'd suggest a higher count of charges just means this is happening more. I think another useful mechanism to consider is that atoms want to return to an electrically neutral state. If they have energy that differs from this neutral state, they will either give out energy or take in energy to reach the neutral state. The movement involved in rebalancing the atoms can be thought of as electric current. Again, happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.
- agumonkey 10y agoI meant such precise physics(that I find passionating btw), no matter how true at that level, might be of lower significance for basic electric/eletronics thinking.