Velocity of Electrons

[BPHgravity]

What is the velocity of electrons within a conductor? Does the velocity change when Electromotive-force is increased or decresaed? It appears as if the energy is moving at near or even at the speed of light, but it is my understanding that the electrons actually move very slow. How can this be?

[Guest jon]

:lclambda: = :h:/mv

[Radical Edward]

Originally posted by BPHgravity

What is the velocity of electrons within a conductor? Does the velocity change when Electromotive-force is increased or decresaed? It appears as if the energy is moving at near or even at the speed of light, but it is my understanding that the electrons actually move very slow. How can this be?

 

electrons themselves move very fast indeed. treat them simply using a bit of thermal physics and you will see what I mean. The drift however when you apply an emf across a circuit, is very slow. While individual electrons may whip about at speeds approaching c, they bounce off alot of stuff and this slows them down. If I recall, the average drift is a few mm per second. rather nicely, you can then insert this into the lorentz transforms and work out a magnitude for the magnetic field around a wire.

[BPHgravity]

Reading other threads that relate to this topic, it is appearent to me that my whole conception of how electrons and "electricty" exist and interact is totaly wrong. I am a trained electrician and have spent the last 7 years studying electrical theory for the understanding of electrical current and how it relates to energy and the phenomenon of "electricty."

 

The electrical industry is concerned with the heating characteriastics of current, or more accurately the ways to eliminate and control heating effects of current flow. This well into the scope of my understanding, and this is what I am an expert of.

 

What I am interestred in is what exactly the electron is doing and what its part is in the generating and use of electrical energy.

 

Basically, the electrical industry, and any electrician level theory books decribe the electron as orbiting the nuecleus. They explain that the event is similar to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, and relate the effects of positve and negative charges to the effects of gravity and centrifigual forces. I now understand that this is a misconception.

 

We are also taught that the flow of current is what is responsible for the flow electrical energy, or more accurately that the electrons carry the charge that "loads" use to operate. This also appears to be wrong from what I have read here.

 

I really would like to understand how electrons act and what is really going on when electricity is being produced and being consumed. I think we should be given accurate and true information and not :bs: to make it easier for us to understand.

 

Can you recommend and literature or any texts that clearly define these issues. I am not looking for a "electricity for dumbies" type book, because that seems to be what I have been reading already. A book for the electrician is not going to cut it. I need real inforamtion and real math. Any help?

[JaKiri]

If you want a reasonably high level course, I think electrodynamics are covered in the second book of The Feynman Lectures on Physics.

[blike]

It depends on what level you're looking for. How much math do you know? I can't understand a lot of the math behind the physics, so I generally rely on more casual reading physics book that explain it to the "casual" scientist. Off hand I don't know any books that go into great detail about all of it. I'll look through some of mine and see if they discuss it at all.