Actually much, much less than that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift_velocity#Numerical_example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift_velocity#Numerical_exampl.

Actually much, much less than that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift_velocity#Numerical_example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift_velocity#Numerical_exampl... Even for a large current in a small wire, you only get average speeds of about 1cm every 40 seconds. Luckily, that isn't the speed at which signals move. Imagine that each of us is holding one end of a 10 foot metal pole. I transfer a message to you by pushing on the bar. You don't need to wait for my end to reach you before you can tell that it has moved, because you can feel the entire rod moving. In the same way, the receiver of a signal doesn't need to wait for the electrons to move all the way, because pushing on some of the electrons makes the entire mass of electrons move.