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Author Topic: Silly question about voltage and current  (Read 45380 times)

Dave45

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Re: Silly question about voltage and current
« Reply #105 on: March 05, 2014, 03:35:28 PM »
You say electrons are negative and that current flows from neg to pos then turn around and study circuits right the opposite

You say well we know its wrong but it works, have you ever asked yourself why it works, could it be that there is a flow from pos to neg as well as a flow from neg to pos.

What would happen if two charges a pos and a neg charge were separated, what happens when combined.

Offline SeaMonkey

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Re: Silly question about voltage and current
« Reply #106 on: March 05, 2014, 08:49:37 PM »
Quote from: TinKoala
...they know which way electrons go,

Aye, they do.  In a vacuum or near vacuum as inside
a vacuum tube there is no question. :)

Within a conductor the movement is somewhat
different as it functions as a queue;  each individual
initiating electron moves a very short distance but causes
the entire queue to move very rapidly the same short
distance. 8)

Now, that appears to be some sort of incredible power;
a single electron is able to move billions or even trillions
of others in the queue! :o

Offline TinselKoala

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Re: Silly question about voltage and current
« Reply #107 on: March 05, 2014, 09:05:20 PM »
You say well we know its wrong but it works, have you ever asked yourself why it works, could it be that there is a flow from pos to neg as well as a flow from neg to pos.

What would happen if two charges a pos and a neg charge were separated, what happens when combined.
I have asked myself that, and I have also "asked" much more clever folks than I, by studying and working problems in electrical engineering. You may want to locate the book called "Circuits, Devices and Systems" by Ralph Smith, to get an idea about just what such study entails. Look, it is available on the internet:
http://pdf7835.chuobooks.com/circuits-devices-and-systems-edition-PDF-3098440.pdf

Separating positive and negative charges and holding them apart is what a Capacitor does. When you combine them by shorting the capacitor or connecting it to a circuit, you get an arc, or usable current in your circuit elements, until the charges have completely neutralized each other or you put more charge in.

Next question?

(Little NE2 neons will tell you the polarity of charge. Only the negatively charged electrode glows in those. If you see both electrodes glowing you know you have AC in there at some frequency. If not... the electrode that IS glowing is the one that is negatively charged. It is emitting electrons that ionize the neon and when the neon atom "de-ionizes" it emits a photon of energy equal to the ionization energy.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5I_BM4E00E

Offline TinselKoala

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Re: Silly question about voltage and current
« Reply #108 on: March 05, 2014, 09:21:09 PM »
Aye, they do.  In a vacuum or near vacuum as inside
a vacuum tube there is no question. :)

Within a conductor the movement is somewhat
different as it functions as a queue;  each individual
initiating electron moves a very short distance but causes
the entire queue to move very rapidly the same short
distance. 8)

Now, that appears to be some sort of incredible power;
a single electron is able to move billions or even trillions
of others in the queue! :o
Yep, the vacuum tube, especially those like CRTs that are designed to produce an electron beam that has effects outside the tube, shows the truth. Filaments and cathodes are connected to the Negative, the Plate is connected to the Positive and a potential of 400 V or more (the "B+" supply) is used to pull those electrons out of the cathode and boost them towards the plate across the electric field gradient. They are formed into a  nice tight beam by magnets and coils and fieldshaping electrodes... the magnets bend the beam because it is a current-carrying thing just like a plasma wire, sort of. But the "conventional current" used to analyze the circuit is still taken to be "flowing" from the plate Anode to the Cathode, just like the tube were a diode. Which it is, with other things thrown in there to make it a triode or pentode.

Offline TinselKoala

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Re: Silly question about voltage and current
« Reply #109 on: March 05, 2014, 09:45:45 PM »
Now let me make a very bold statement. There is nothing wrong with making up your own theories about stuff like electricity! But if you do so, you should still understand enough about the hidebound "conventional" theory, which is Quantum Electrodynamics in its various forms, to show how your theory is different, more interesting, that it makes different testable predictions than the existing theory, and so on. Having experimental evidence of a successful prediction that goes against conventional theory's prediction.... now that will ring some bells and that's why we are all here, I think.

Offline MarkE

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Re: Silly question about voltage and current
« Reply #110 on: March 05, 2014, 10:38:35 PM »
You say electrons are negative and that current flows from neg to pos then turn around and study circuits right the opposite, how can you ever understand whats really happening.

You said we laughed, do you really think that bothers me, I guess that makes me the minority, I like it, I really never fit in anyway and I like to follow my own path.

Ya'll keep patting each other on the back and agreeing and keep paying for something that is free.
Dave, the sign of charge is arbitrary for purposes of circuit analysis.  It is only important to maintain the same convention throughout the analysis.  The vast majority of the world chooses to follow positive current convention for the simple reason that it reduces the number of sign reversals when analyzing a circuit.  Tracking electrons drifting from the negative pole of an energy source say CCW around a circuit is mathematically equivalent to following 'electron holes', IE positve charge CW around the same circuit. This has been explained to you and  illustrated for you.  If the concept still doesn't make sense to you, then please pick up a book on circuit analysis.