When you listen to people wiring up a DC circuit they seem to mumble about the electricity flowing from positive to negative. However in school I was always taught that DC electricity flowed from negative to positive.
I was googling for this and didn't see the definitive Stack Exchange post. Anything I read either isn't clear about this or is too complicated for me to understand.
Can someone please explain this to me like I'm 5? It seems like one of those things where both sides are right but there is a subtle difference that is difficult to communicate.
Best Answer
The answers you were given and what you were taught in school are all correct. When electric current was first discovered people didn't know which way to choose and they assumed that it flows from positive to negative. Later it was proved that it is the other way, electrons seeking the positive terminal. Despite this new discovery, nobody wanted to change the way of looking at this flow, so it's still considered to be from + to - for two reasons:
-The same calculations, laws and formulas work for both ways
-There were already many books and documents based on this concept and everyone was already used to it. Since it wouldn't affect the computations and the rest, there was no need to change it.