Electronic – What actually flows, current electricity or charge

chargecurrentelectricity

I'm new to electricity and electronics, I started with the essentials on Sparkfun but I'm a little bit confused.

On What is Electricity? under Current Electricity:

Current electricity is the form of electricity which makes all of our electronic gizmos possible. This form of electricity exists when charges are able to constantly flow. As opposed to static electricity where charges gather and remain at rest, current electricity is dynamic, charges are always on the move.

While right next on the same page under Circuits:

In order to flow, current electricity requires a circuit: a closed, never-ending loop of conductive material.

What actually flows? The charge; causing current and the whole thing causes current electricity? Or the current electricity?

What is actually electricity in this context?

Thanks

EDIT:

Thanks, everyone!


Introduction

To begin, my problem was with the usage of the term "flow" with the terms "charge" and "electricity current" (which was neither "electric current" nor "electrical current") at first.

Then @Andyaka pointed out:

The term "current electricity" is not a term I would use (at all ever (apart from now when mentioning it)). Electrical current is the term I'd use and that "Electrons flow and they possess charge and the rate of flow of charge is current." definition is correct.

That got me into another problem, many websites use the term "Current Electricity" to describe the flow of electrons along a conductor[1, 2].

And some websites use "Current Electricity" too but with the definition: flow of charge, instead of electrons[1, 3].


I asked a nanotechnology graduate, he told me that this definition is correct, and flow may be used for terms:

  1. Flow of "electrons" as the current (i.e. current is the flow of electrons…).
  2. Flow of "current electricity" if we are relating generally to the direction or the state of moving in a circuit (e.g. our city's current electricity is flowing from that power plant).

My humble conclusion

I'm still a beginner, but I've done some research and concluded these definitions as the solution to my problem:

  • Electric Current is the same as Current Electrecity[3, 4].
  • Charge: Electric charge of particles. It is measurable in Coulombs, comes in two types: positive (+) or negative (-).
  • Electric Current: the flow of charge carriers (electrons for electronics)[3]. Surrounding electrostatic force pushes or pulls—depending on the charge type of the force—weaker electrons out of the atom causing them to drift carrying their charge and look for other atoms to latch to them. The flow of electrons continues to happen until the electrostatic force disappears.
  • The electricity we use to power up our stuff is Electric Current or Current Electricity.
  • Lastly, all of the caused confusion is because some tutorials try to simplify things by removing hard definitions leading to wrong understanding (opinion).

I surely may have missed up the whole thing, feel free to correct me and give me advice.


  1. Sparkfun
  2. Direct Energy Regulated Services
  3. Electric Current, Wikipedia
  4. Static Electricity, Wikipedia

Best Answer

Actual electricity is more like sound rather than wind. The air molecules significantly move for wind, and although the particles kind of move for sound, what it really moving in the way we care about is the wave moving through the particles.

So the electrons do kind of move in electricity, but it's really the wave that is moving. In other words, an individual electrons isn't moving back and forth between your house and the power plant 50 or 60 times per second.

Related Topic