CURRENT AND RESISTANCE - wiaris parsies? Inte dren ve oe snare ec AA neo ore ees cornekins ow uae emioee Sse Se es = raase SIE Secs pee eee oes ere em see ea aes cients ee cos 26-2 Electric Current ‘Although an electric current is a stream of moving charges, act all moving ‘charge: constitute an elect curzent Le taere isto be an elecine current throwzh 4 given surface, there must be a not flow of charge through thet surface. Two cxamples darify our meaning. 1 The fee electrons (conduction electrons) in an isolated length of copper wire rein random motion at speeds of the orser of 10 mis Ifyou past a hypothet- ical plane through such a wire, conduction elecrons pass through it im Both Girecions atthe rate of many bilions per sesond—but there is no net trans- (portot chaige and thus no aurent through the wire. Howeves if you connect the ends of the wire to » battery, you slightly bas the Row in ons divection, ‘vith the result that there now is a act traneport of charge and thus an electric Surenthrough the wire ‘The flow of water through a gardea hove represents the directed flow of posi- tive charge (the protons inthe Water molecules) ata 1ate of peshaps several milli couambs per second. There ina net tanepert of charge, however, ‘ecause there is a parallel Bow of negative charge (the electronsin the water solecules) of exactly the same amourt moving in exactly the same direction. In this chapter we restrict ourselves largely to the study—within the feamevork of classival physice—of steady currents of conduction electron moving through metalic conductors euch a8 copper wires