Which way does Current Flow | AO #19

Do electrons flow from positive to negative? Or do they flow from negative to positive? This AddOhms tutorial looks at the difference between Conventional Flow and Electron Flow.

James also addresses whether or not his drawings are incorrect.

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#electron #current #flow

[darrylnichols]

Great job. I wish I'd had this video 25 years ago when I was learning on my own.

[amicklich]

The key thing you stated here is that when you analyze a circuit, stick to one type of flow. I've found many tutorials don't state that simply. They get too caught up in explanations on the atomic level. Thanks for that!

[DeeegerD]

There are two ways to view it because scientists hate to admit they were wrong and change what is currently used. ;)  This has lead to a great deal of confusion for students of electronics for decades.  Electron flow is correct where as conventional flow is a matter of convenience.  I still wish they had revised everything when they discovered the truth as this can make understanding some circuits difficult as in transistor biasing, especially when you are just learning the theory for the first time.  Just awhile ago I was looking at a transistor circuit and was totally boggled as to how it worked until I changed my approach and looked at it from the point of electron flow.

[charlescartwright]

You have no idea of the fun I had back in the "60's" with technical engineers from the various military suppliers swapping in mid stream circuit analysis [kirchhoff] and using "Current flow" as the common denominator. I guess some of us are easily Thanks for your simplistic coverage for us old slow thinkers. Back then I never imagined sneezing and blowing my replacement parts away... Keep up the good work component repair is slipping away.

[cphVlwYa]

I think the best way I every heard it explained was as a line of billiard balls all touching each other. If you hit one end, the energy will be transferred to the other end, but the balls themselves (the electrons) don't move all that much. However, they do still move which is why we can create electromagnetic fields with current

[evic]

best electronics channel so far, if you can make videos more frequently it would be awesome !

[Aerospaceman]

Good presentation, the US Navy teaches electron flow, and conventional flow; however, the majority of work is done in electron flow. Nodal analysis verifies both electron and conventional depending upon the direction chosen. So thank you for such a good presentation.

[uniqueo-gh]

don't get it! IF it doesnt matters in which way a current flows then why doesnt my LED light up when i connect +ve terminal to -ve terminal? please explain. this is making me made for 2 months??

[renerodriguez]

If you get confused by the statement at 1:31 you are fine. His statement is not exactly correct and confusing. Only electrons move. What he is referring to is a relative movement that is studied later in semiconductor theory - and is a relative motion, because, in basic electrical theory on solid conductors, positive charges stay with the nucleus and never move.

[dalskiBo]

Very, very well explained, thanks AddOhms. We just subscribed & love someone who can have a little joke on themselves & add a bit of humour to the mix.

[elsf]

I learned electron flow, and I tried SO HARD to force that into my head that my brain fights against conventional current!😄 I didn't realize everything would be conventional current, but I guess it's implied in the name

[kevinobrien]

Strictly speaking current does not flow, current is better described as a flow of charge. You can state that in this wire we have a current. But not that in this wire we have a current flow. In the same way that It is correct to say you have a water current, but not you have a water current flow. As the word Current already incorporates the concept of flow as current literally means "a flow of <substance>"

[rcnelson]

A text on electricity that's over a century old said that, if I understood it, electrons don't actually flow at all in any direction, but that the "state" of the wire is changed.

[dougthfret]

Thank you +AddOhms, for the explanation.  But if "flow direction" doesn't matter, why do we place components, such as resistors, capacitors, etc. at specific places within the circuit?   Could we just as easily place a resistor somewhere else in the circuit and get the same results?

[smeltser]

So what if the circuit is using a diode? Since the diode only lets current go one direction if you make a circuit using conventional current your circuit will NOT work....right??

[Ezzell_]

+addohms answer me this...how can both veiws be valid when one is electrons which does jump from one atom to another and the other is based on proton moving....protons dont move from one atom to another. if they did would mean that nucleus was split apart...proton moved to another split nucleus and re-assembled just to be split apart again as the proton moved. Cold Fission?

[deckape]

I think a brilliant scientist accidentally drew the battery upside down and no one was brave enough to correct him. 😊

[mbaksa]

I understand the explanation, but I still feel uneasy using conventional direction (although diodes with their symbol mess things up). Not only because that is not what really is happening, but it messes with other concepts, like the ground. If one wonders why is in most cases not only OK, rather required to connect grounds together, it is easier to visualize that when current flows from negative (that is, usually ground) to positive. When one connects grounds together, one can visualize those grounds (and ground plane on PCBs) as a single source of electrons, as a source of negative charge, and then electrons (negative charge) travel from there to positive parts of circuit. One can visualize ground as a big bowl of electrons, that are getting scooped out with spoons. :)

[NASIMBINJASIM]

Can you make a video about advantage of AC motor and DC motor ?

[meetyoursatheesh]

Which tool you are using for circuit simulations.