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negative charge

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Q: What does an electric current need in order to flow?
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What do you nedd to produce a continuous path of electric current?

to produce a continuous psource of electirc current, you would need electrons.


What is a type of pressure that drives electrical charges through a circuit?

conductor is a material through which electric current flows easily.Electric charge is a basic feature of certain particles of matter that causes them to attract or repel other charged particles.Electric circuit is the path that an electric current follows.Electric current is the flow of electric charges.Electric field is the influence a charged body has on the space around it that causes other charged bodies in that space to experience electric forces.Electrode is a piece of metal or other conductor through which current enters or leaves an electric device.Electromagnetism is a basic force in the universe that involves both electricity and magnetism.Electron is a subatomic particle with a negative electric charge.Insulator is a material that opposes the flow of electric current.Ion is an atom or group of atoms that has either gained or lost electrons, and so has an electric charge.Kilowatt-hour is the amount of electric energy a 1,000-watt device uses in one hour.Neutron is a subatomic particle that has no electric charge.Ohm is the unit used to measure a material's resistance to the flow of electric current.Proton is a subatomic particle with a positive electric charge.Resistance is a material's opposition to the flow of electric current.Static electricity is electric charge that is not moving.Voltage is a type of "pressure" that drives electric charges through a circuit.Watt is the unit used to measure the rate of energy consumption, including electric energy. Current_Electricity">Current Electricity Electric current is the movement or flow of electric charges. A charge can be either positive or negative. The protons that make up part of the nucleus of every atom have a positive electric charge. The electrons that surround the nucleus have a negative charge. An electric current can consist of positive, negative, or both types of charges.The American statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin originated the idea that electric current flows from positive to negative. But other scientists later proved that electric current actually flows in the opposite direction--from negative to positive.Franklin's idea also fails to describe the way electric current flows through metals. Each atom of a metal wire has at least one electron that is not held so closely by the nucleus as the others are. Such loosely held electrons can move freely through the metal. But the nucleus cannot move through the wire. Thus, current flowing through a metal wire consists of free electrons.Conductors and insulators. Electric current flows most easily through substances called conductors. The number of free electrons in a substance determines how well it conducts current. Such metals as aluminium, copper, silver, and gold are good conductors because they have at least one free electron per atom. Some metals, such as lead and tin, are poorer conductors than other metals because they have less than one free electron per atom. Poor conductors resist the flow of electric current more than good conductors do. Resistance changes electric energy into heat. Engineers use units called ohms to measure resistance (see OHM).Substances with no free electrons, such as glass, mica, and rubber, do not normally conduct electric current. They are called insulators. Some substances, including germanium and silicon, are neither good conductors nor insulators. They are called semiconductors (see SEMICONDUCTOR).To produce an electric current, some type of nonelectric energy must be converted into an electromotive force (emf). For example, a battery creates an emf by changing chemical energy into electrical potential energy. Thus, a battery has a potential difference (difference in potential energy) between its ends that causes electrons to flow in a conductor. Emf is measured in units called volts. An emf of one volt, when connected to a conductor with a resistance of one ohm, causes 6,241,500,000,000,000,000 electrons to flow past a point in the conductor in one second. This amount of electric current is called one ampere. See VOLT; AMPERE.Direct and alternating current. An electric current is either direct or alternating. Direct current (DC) always flows in the same direction. It is produced by batteries and DC generators. Alternating current (AC) regularly reverses its direction of flow. It is produced by AC generators. Nearly all homes and other buildings use AC.Each time AC completes two changes of direction, it goes through one cycle. The number of cycles per second is called the frequency of the AC. Frequency is measured in units called hertz. Power is generated at 50 hertz in some countries and 60 hertz in others.Direct current operates car electric systems, locomotives, and some types of motors used in industry. Radios, television sets, and other electronic devices use AC, but they also need DC to operate their internal circuits. Devices called rectifiers easily change AC into DC. DC is also necessary in order to charge storage batteries.Alternating current has several advantages over DC. Its major advantage is that power stations can transmit it easily and efficiently. Electric current loses the least amount of energy when travelling at high voltages. But these high voltages are not safe to use in homes. Devices called transformers can easily increase or decrease AC voltage.A conductor can carry more than one alternating current at a time. A current consisting of two more individual alternating currents is known as a polyphase current. One common kind of polyphase current is three-phase current, which consists of three individual alternating currents.


What do you call the liquid that allows electric current to pass through?

Electric current does not need a liquid. It can pass in solids, liquids, gases, and even empty space. If it passes through a liquid, the liquid is called an electrolyte.


In order to form an electric circuit what do you need to have?

To establish an electric current, there are two requirements that must be met. There must be a closed conducting path that goes from the positive terminal to the negative terminal. The second requirement is to have an electric circuit for the energy to move a positive test charge against the electric field.


Why do people have to turn on and off the flow of electrical current?

The need to turn it on when they want the electrical energy to do something for them and need to turn it off again afterwards.

Related questions

How does an electric current flow?

The very word current means 'flow'. Electric current is the flow of electric charges. There are two kind of electric charges. Scientists considered the electric current as the flow of positive charges. But in case of solid metals, only negatively charged electrons are able to move freely where as the positively charged protons are held firmly within the core of the atoms. So electric current is due to negatively charged electrons. Now we have to differentiate these two. How? Let us consider the current due to flow of positive charges as conventional current flow. Hence conventional current direction is always opposite to the direction of flow of electrons. To keep the charges in motion we need a force to push them. So we use a chemical cell which has electrical potential difference between the two terminals. This potential difference is named as " electro motive force", in short "emf". So emf is responsible to make electric charges to flow.


How does an electricity flow?

The very word current means 'flow'. Electric current is the flow of electric charges. There are two kind of electric charges. Scientists considered the electric current as the flow of positive charges. But in case of solid metals, only negatively charged electrons are able to move freely where as the positively charged protons are held firmly within the core of the atoms. So electric current is due to negatively charged electrons. Now we have to differentiate these two. How? Let us consider the current due to flow of positive charges as conventional current flow. Hence conventional current direction is always opposite to the direction of flow of electrons. To keep the charges in motion we need a force to push them. So we use a chemical cell which has electrical potential difference between the two terminals. This potential difference is named as " electro motive force", in short "emf". So emf is responsible to make electric charges to flow.


Why do you need to wires to carry current?

Conducting materials readily give and receive electrons from one atom to another. Electric current is actually the flow of electrons, so if it's difficult for the electrons to move, there will little or no current flow.


For an electric current to flow the only thing needed is for two objects to have a difference in charge?

Actually, they need a difference in energy per charge. Voltage is energy per charge, in joules per coulomb, and a voltage differential is what is required to create an electric current flow.


Does electricity flow through wires?

Electric current flows through wires, but to transmit electric power you need two wires with a voltage between them, connected to a power source.


Does current need free electrons for it to flow?

yes it need ion to flow


What happen when an electric current is produced?

What Happens when a n electric current is produced?When electric charges are made to flow through a wire or similar material, they produce an electric current. When the electric current is produced it become's a continuous flow of electric charges through a material.Resources: I found this research information at:Discovery Channel SCHOOL, Go Online scLinks (nsta) The name of the website's to find more info is discovery.com and PearsonSchool.comYou can also find more information in this textbook: Prentice Hall Science Explorer. You can find and order this book online(:Have any questions or comments? Ask below, and I'll anwser as quick as possible, and if you have or need help finding the textbook just let me know below.


What happens when electric current is produceds?

What Happens when a n electric current is produced?When electric charges are made to flow through a wire or similar material, they produce an electric current. When the electric current is produced it become's a continuous flow of electric charges through a material.Resources: I found this research information at:Discovery Channel SCHOOL, Go Online scLinks (nsta) The name of the website's to find more info is discovery.com and PearsonSchool.comYou can also find more information in this textbook: Prentice Hall Science Explorer. You can find and order this book online(:Have any questions or comments? Ask below, and I'll anwser as quick as possible, and if you have or need help finding the textbook just let me know below.


What does an electric current need?

A conducter


Why does an electric circuit that operates correctly need to be closed circuit?

In order to have the electricity or the flow or electrons going around the circuit, the circuit must be closed. If it is not closed then electrons cannot flow.


What happens when an electric currents produces?

What Happens when a n electric current is produced?When electric charges are made to flow through a wire or similar material, they produce an electric current. When the electric current is produced it become's a continuous flow of electric charges through a material.Resources: I found this research information at:Discovery Channel SCHOOL, Go Online scLinks (nsta) The name of the website's to find more info is discovery.com and PearsonSchool.comYou can also find more information in this textbook: Prentice Hall Science Explorer. You can find and order this book online(:Have any questions or comments? Ask below, and I'll anwser as quick as possible, and if you have or need help finding the textbook just let me know below.


When does electric current flows?

Simple Answer:The definition of a current is a collection of moving charges.Hence for current to flow, one needs charge and one needs it to move.Electric current flows when charge move - that is the definition.Long Answer:One generally sees current flow on Earth with a conductor and a voltage or potential difference that creates and electric field and charges in the conductor feel a force and move creating current.The conductor may be a wire and the charges may be electrons.The conductor might also be water with dissolved salt and the electric field causes the salt ions to move and it is the moving ions that constitute the current.If you are the Sun and you are producing electrons and protons on the solar wind, then complex electromagnetic fields may have ejected the charges from the sun, but the current that is the charge moving through space is maintained just by the inertial of the particles. You don't need an electric field to maintain the current and you don't need a conductor to hold the charges.For a current to flow, you need net charge moving. That is all. Current is technically charge density times velocity.