If you connect copper wire to steel wire, how come the steel does not start becoming copper (or vice versa)? I'm looking at it this way. The electrons are moving in the copper, an they are then going to the steel. If the electrons are from copper and going to steel, would not the steel begin to turn to copper? I have never undeerstood this.
(of course this could be any type of metals that conduct electricity)
Elements are composed of atoms and atoms have more than just electrons in them. Protons and Neutrons are the other "big" parts. Also part of what makes an element what it is has to do with how the atoms are arranged (how they stick together).
Should have paid more attention during HS chemistry and physics... :)
It is the nucleus that determines the element, the electrons are sorta' peripheral and what are exchanged during chemical reactions and current flow while the nuclei are unmodified.
Essentially, in a very simplistic description it's the number of protons that determines which element it is (look at an atomic table); the number of neutrons along w/ the protons sets the isotope of the element.
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pvs_industries@yaho_o.com wrote: ...
In addition to the other note on makeup the nucleus being the determination of which atom is which, there is no net change in number of electrons/atom in current flow -- it's a "flow"; what goes away from any point (atom) has to be made up from somewhere else upstream. This only changes in instances such as charging a capacitor where some are at least temporarily stored leaving a net charge (which is simply a net excess or shortage of electrons in a localized area, still haven't created or lost any electrons in total only redistributed them).
And, only nuclear reactions change anything but the chemical composition; chemical reactions, electrical currents, etc., do not. They change only the manner in which atoms may be combined; the net number of nuclei of the original species are unchanged before, during and after. That why one can write chemical balance equations...
Fission/fusion are nuclear reactions and there's where the nuclei are either broken apart or smushed together with the result of more atoms (but smaller/lower atomic number) in fission or fewer (of higher atomic number) in fusion...
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You need to move the whole atom not just move electrons from one atom to the other. That's what electricity is.
No. That mos' definitely is _not_ "what electricity is".
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Because whole atoms would have to move, they don't. Only the electrons pass along. No difference between a steel electron and a copper electron.
Current flow in a conductor is only the movement of atoms.
Correction: only the movement of *electrons*
With new fraud proof voting machines, electrons all go to the Democrat headquarters.
You are right, sort of. It's called electromigration and a real problem in integrated circuits.
It's a weird world down there.
-- Doug
This question should be answered by TRON.
All electrons are identical - it's the non-electron part of an atom that makes the atom a distinct element. The non-electron part, the nucleus, doesn't move (much).
The electrons don't actually go anywhere with AC. An explanation here:
And then there are some physicists who would argue that the electrons are not moving any farther than the nearest adjacent atom. It is really the hole from the misplaced electron that is moving, the hole flow going from positive to negative.
Those physicists would be wrong. A "hole" is different than an "electron", as far as conduction of electricity goes. Both carry current, but in different materials, and by different mechanisms.
An "electron" is a "free" electron, "bonding" electron, or "conduction" band electron. These electrons are "spare", in that they can easily be moved from one atom to another without adding energy to them.
A "hole" is where an electron was stripped (excited to a higher energy) from an already full valence band into the conduction band. This electron can be moved across to another atom, where it may fall into a "hole" in a full valence band in the next atom (or not). This "hole" in the full valence band is seen to be moving in the opposite direction.
Depending on the material (is the outer "shell" of electrons full or almost full?), "holes" or "electrons" are the main ("majority") carrier of electricity. In conductors, electrons are the majority carriers.
Electrons move farther that the nearest atom, but not quickly.
The parts of the non-electron part are all the same between atoms, too. ;-)
Depending on the material, it can move (i.e. some materials move more than others). As someone here noted, this process is called "electromigration".
Imagine the electrons are like a bunch of marbles in a row, touching each other when you push one at one end, the others in the line all move.
It's almost like moving a book, for example. You push on the left side and when it moves, the right side moves too. The impulse is transmitted at the speed of light, maybe.
So the electron doesn't have to move far to make the other electron miles away move too.
The same is true of gravity and magnetism. What is it about magnets that cause them to exert an invisible force that travels through space and pulls things towards other things? We have figured out exactly how much force is exerted, and a great deal more, but as for just how one piece of magnetic material can induce motion in another one still strikes me as a modern miracle. Same for gravity - why does stuff want to mate up with other stuff? Why do dust bunnies forms in clumps under the bed? (-:
I recall in college chem reading about an experiment where two pieces of gold and silver were polished until they were mirror smooth and flat, and then one was placed on top of the other. After just a short while, silver atoms had migrated into the block of gold and vice versa.
-- Bobby G.
This is how superstition begins.
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