Electric Current

Editors’ note: This section is derived from Current by OpenStax

Electric current is defined to be the rate at which charge flows. A large current, such as that used to start a truck engine, moves a large amount of charge in a small time, whereas a small current, such as that used to operate a hand-held calculator, moves a small amount of charge over a long period of time. In equation form, electric current [latex]I[/latex] is defined to be

[latex]I = \frac{\Delta Q}{\Delta t}[/latex],

where [latex]\Delta Q[/latex]

is the amount of charge passing through a given area in time [latex]\Delta t[/latex]. (As in previous chapters, initial time is often taken to be zero, in which case [latex]\Delta t = t[/latex].) (See Figure 1.) The SI unit for current is the ampere (A), named for the French physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836). Since[latex]I = \Delta Q / \Delta t[/latex], we see that an ampere is one coulomb per second:

[latex]1 \text{ A} = 1 \text{ C/s}[/latex]

Not only are fuses and circuit breakers rated in amperes (or amps), so are many electrical appliances.

Figure 2 shows a simple circuit and the standard schematic representation of a battery, conducting path, and load (a resistor). Schematics are very useful in visualizing the main features of a circuit. A single schematic can represent a wide variety of situations. The schematic in Figure 2(b), for example, can represent anything from a truck battery connected to a headlight lighting the street in front of the truck to a small battery connected to a penlight lighting a keyhole in a door. Such schematics are useful because the analysis is the same for a wide variety of situations. We need to understand a few schematics to apply the concepts and analysis to many more situations.

Note that the direction of current flow in Figure 2 is from positive to negative. The direction of conventional current is the direction that positive charge would flow. Depending on the situation, positive charges, negative charges, or both may move. In metal wires, for example, current is carried by electrons—that is, negative charges move. In ionic solutions, such as salt water, both positive and negative charges move. This is also true in nerve cells. A Van de Graaff generator used for nuclear research can produce a current of pure positive charges, such as protons. Figure 3 illustrates the movement of charged particles that compose a current. The fact that conventional current is taken to be in the direction that positive charge would flow can be traced back to American politician and scientist Benjamin Franklin in the 1700s. He named the type of charge associated with electrons negative, long before they were known to carry current in so many situations. Franklin, in fact, was totally unaware of the small-scale structure of electricity.

It is important to realize that there is an electric field in conductors responsible for producing the current, as illustrated in Figure 3. Unlike static electricity, where a conductor in equilibrium cannot have an electric field in it, conductors carrying a current have an electric field and are not in static equilibrium. An electric field is needed to supply energy to move the charges.

Drift Velocity

Electrical signals are known to move very rapidly. Telephone conversations carried by currents in wires cover large distances without noticeable delays. Lights come on as soon as a switch is flicked. Most electrical signals carried by currents travel at speeds on the order of [latex]10^8 \text{ m/s}[/latex], a significant fraction of the speed of light. Interestingly, the individual charges that make up the current move much more slowly on average, typically drifting at speeds on the order of [latex]10^{-4} \text{ m/s}[/latex]. How do we reconcile these two speeds, and what does it tell us about standard conductors?

The high speed of electrical signals results from the fact that the force between charges acts rapidly at a distance. Thus, when a free charge is forced into a wire, as in Figure 4, the incoming charge pushes other charges ahead of it, which in turn push on charges farther down the line. The density of charge in a system cannot easily be increased, and so the signal is passed on rapidly. The resulting electrical shock wave moves through the system at nearly the speed of light. To be precise, this rapidly moving signal or shock wave is a rapidly propagating change in electric field.

Good conductors have large numbers of free charges in them. In metals, the free charges are free electrons. Figure 5 shows how free electrons move through an ordinary conductor. The distance that an individual electron can move between collisions with atoms or other electrons is quite small. The electron paths thus appear nearly random, like the motion of atoms in a gas. But there is an electric field in the conductor that causes the electrons to drift in the direction shown (opposite to the field, since they are negative). The drift velocity [latex]v_\text{d}[/latex] is the average velocity of the free charges. Drift velocity is quite small, since there are so many free charges. If we have an estimate of the density of free electrons in a conductor, we can calculate the drift velocity for a given current. The larger the density, the lower the velocity required for a given current.

The free-electron collisions transfer energy to the atoms of the conductor. The electric field does work in moving the electrons through a distance, but that work does not increase the kinetic energy (nor speed, therefore) of the electrons. The work is transferred to the conductor’s atoms, possibly increasing temperature. Thus a continuous power input is required to keep a current flowing. An exception, of course, is found in superconductors, for reasons we shall explore in a later chapter. Superconductors can have a steady current without a continual supply of energy—a great energy savings. In contrast, the supply of energy can be useful, such as in a lightbulb filament. The supply of energy is necessary to increase the temperature of the tungsten filament, so that the filament glows.

We can obtain an expression for the relationship between current and drift velocity by considering the number of free charges in a segment of wire, as illustrated in Figure 6. The number of free charges per unit volume is given the symbol [latex]n[/latex] and depends on the material. The shaded segment has a volume [latex]Ax[/latex], so that the number of free charges in it is [latex]nAx[/latex]. The charge [latex]\Delta Q[/latex] in this segment is thus [latex]qnAx[/latex] where [latex]q[/latex] is the amount of charge on each carrier.  (Recall that for electrons, [latex]q[/latex] is [latex]-1.60 \times 10^{-19} \text{ C}[/latex]. Current is charge moved per unit time; thus, if all the original charges move out of this segment in time [latex]\Delta t[/latex], the current is

[latex]I = \frac{\Delta Q}{\Delta t} = \frac{qnAx}{\Delta t}[/latex].

Note that [latex]x/ \Delta t[/latex] is the magnitude of the drift velocity, [latex]v_{\text{d}}[/latex], since the charges move an average distance [latex]x[/latex] in a time [latex]\Delta t[/latex]. Rearranging terms gives

[latex]I = nqAv_{\text{d}}[/latex],

where [latex]I[/latex] is the current through a wire of cross-sectional area [latex]A[/latex] made of a material with a free charge density [latex]n[/latex]. The carriers of the current each have charge [latex]q[/latex] and move with a drift velocity of magnitude [latex]v_{\text{d}}[/latex].

Note that simple drift velocity is not the entire story. The speed of an electron is much greater than its drift velocity. In addition, not all of the electrons in a conductor can move freely, and those that do might move somewhat faster or slower than the drift velocity. So what do we mean by free electrons? Atoms in a metallic conductor are packed in the form of a lattice structure. Some electrons are far enough away from the atomic nuclei that they do not experience the attraction of the nuclei as much as the inner electrons do. These are the free electrons. They are not bound to a single atom but can instead move freely among the atoms in a “sea” of electrons. These free electrons respond by accelerating when an electric field is applied. Of course as they move they collide with the atoms in the lattice and other electrons, generating thermal energy, and the conductor gets warmer. In an insulator, the organization of the atoms and the structure do not allow for such free electrons.