Electric current

Flow of positive charge

Flow of electrons

A simple electric circuit, where current is represented by the letter

i. The relationship between the voltage (V), resistance (R), and
current (I) is V=IR; this is known as Ohms Law.

The electrons, the charge carriers in an electrical circuit, ow in

the opposite direction of the conventional electric current.

An electric current is a ow of electric charge. In electric

circuits this charge is often carried by moving electrons in
a wire. It can also be carried by ions in an electrolyte, or
by both ions and electrons such as in a plasma.[1]
The SI unit for measuring an electric current is the
ampere, which is the ow of electric charge across a surface at the rate of one coulomb per second. Electric current is measured using a device called an ammeter.[2]
Electric currents can have many eects, notably heating,
but they also create magnetic elds, which are used in
motors, inductors and generators.

Symbol

The conventional symbol for current is I, which originates

from the French phrase intensit de courant, or in English current intensity.[3][4] This phrase is frequently used
when discussing the value of an electric current, but modern practice often shortens this to simply current. The I
symbol was used by Andr-Marie Ampre, after whom
the unit of electric current is named, in formulating the
eponymous Ampres force law which he discovered in
1820.[5] The notation travelled from France to Britain,
where it became standard, although at least one journal
did not change from using C to I until 1896.[6]

The symbol for a battery in a circuit diagram.

Conventions

A ow of positive charges gives the same electric cur- of negative charges in the opposite direction. Since current, and has the same eect in a circuit, as an equal ow rent can be the ow of either positive or negative charges,
1

OCCURRENCES

or both, a convention for the direction of current which 4 AC and DC

is independent of the type of charge carriers is needed.
The direction of conventional current is arbitrarily de- The abbreviations AC and DC are often used to mean
ned to be the same as the direction of the ow of positive simply alternating and direct, as when they modify curcharges.
rent or voltage.[10][11]
In metals, which make up the wires and other conductors
in most electrical circuits, the positive charges are immobile, and the charge carriers are electrons. Because the 4.1 Direct current
electrons carry negative charge, their motion in a metal
conductor is in the direction opposite to that of conven- Main article: Direct current
tional current.

2.1

Reference direction

Since the current in a wire or component can ow in either

direction, when a variable I is dened to represent that
current, the direction representing positive current must
be specied, usually by an arrow on the circuit schematic
diagram. This is called the reference direction of current
I. If the current is owing in the opposite direction, the
variable I will have a negative value.
When analyzing electrical circuits, the actual direction of
current through a specic circuit element is usually unknown. Consequently, the reference directions of currents are often assigned arbitrarily. When the circuit is
solved, a negative value for the variable means that the
actual direction of current through that circuit element is
opposite that of the chosen reference direction. In electronic circuits, the reference current directions are often
chosen so that all currents are toward ground. This often corresponds to the actual current direction, because
in many circuits the power supply voltage is positive with
respect to ground.

Ohms law

Main article: Ohms law

Direct current (DC) is the unidirectional ow of electric

charge. Direct current is produced by sources such as
batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutatortype electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may ow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also
ow through semiconductors, insulators, or even through
a vacuum as in electron or ion beams. The electric
charge ows in a constant direction, distinguishing it from
alternating current (AC). A term formerly used for direct
current was galvanic current.[12]

4.2 Alternating current

Main article: Alternating current
In alternating current (AC, also ac), the movement of
electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct
current (DC, also dc), the ow of electric charge is only
in one direction.
AC is the form in which electric power is delivered to
businesses and residences. The usual waveform of an AC
power circuit is a sine wave. In certain applications, different waveforms are used, such as triangular or square
waves. Audio and radio signals carried on electrical wires
are also examples of alternating current. In these applications, an important goal is often the recovery of information encoded (or modulated) onto the AC signal.

Ohms law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the
potential dierence across the two points. Introducing 5 Occurrences
the constant of proportionality, the resistance,[7] one arrives at the usual mathematical equation that describes Natural observable examples of electrical current include
this relationship:[8]
lightning, static electricity, and the solar wind, the source
of the polar auroras.
I=

V
R

where I is the current through the conductor in units of

amperes, V is the potential dierence measured across
the conductor in units of volts, and R is the resistance of
the conductor in units of ohms. More specically, Ohms
law states that the R in this relation is constant, independent of the current.[9]

Man-made occurrences of electric current include the

ow of conduction electrons in metal wires such as the
overhead power lines that deliver electrical energy across
long distances and the smaller wires within electrical and
electronic equipment. Eddy currents are electric currents
that occur in conductors exposed to changing magnetic
elds. Similarly, electric currents occur, particularly in
the surface, of conductors exposed to electromagnetic
waves. When oscillating electric currents ow at the cor-

8.2

Radio waves

rect voltages within radio antennas, radio waves are generated.

In electronics, other forms of electric current include the
ow of electrons through resistors or through the vacuum
in a vacuum tube, the ow of ions inside a battery or a
neuron, and the ow of holes within a semiconductor.

Current measurement

Current can be measured using an ammeter.

At the circuit level, there are various techniques that can
be used to measure current:
Shunt resistors[13]
Hall eect current sensor transducers
Transformers (however DC cannot be measured)
Magnetoresistive eld sensors[14]

Resistive heating

Main article: Joule heating

Joule heating, also known as ohmic heating and resistive
heating, is the process by which the passage of an electric current through a conductor releases heat. It was rst
studied by James Prescott Joule in 1841. Joule immersed
a length of wire in a xed mass of water and measured
the temperature rise due to a known current through the
wire for a 30 minute period. By varying the current and
the length of the wire he deduced that the heat produced
was proportional to the square of the current multiplied
by the electrical resistance of the wire.

According to Ampres law, an electric current produces a

magnetic eld.

Magnetism can also produce electric currents. When

a changing magnetic eld is applied to a conductor, an
Electromotive force (EMF) is produced, and when there
is a suitable path, this causes current.
Electric current can be directly measured with a
galvanometer, but this method involves breaking the
electrical circuit, which is sometimes inconvenient. Current can also be measured without breaking the circuit by
detecting the magnetic eld associated with the current.
Devices used for this include Hall eect sensors, current
clamps, current transformers, and Rogowski coils.

8.2 Radio waves

Main article: Radio waves

Q I 2R

When an electric current ows in a suitably shaped conductor at radio frequencies radio waves can be generated.
This relationship is known as Joules First Law. The These travel at the speed of light and can cause electric
SI unit of energy was subsequently named the joule and currents in distant conductors.
given the symbol J. The commonly known unit of power,
the watt, is equivalent to one joule per second.

8
8.1

Electromagnetism
Electromagnet

Main article: Electromagnet

Electric current produces a magnetic eld. The magnetic
eld can be visualized as a pattern of circular eld lines
surrounding the wire that persists as long as there is current.

9 Conduction mechanisms in various media

Main article: Electrical conductivity
In metallic solids, electric charge ows by means of
electrons, from lower to higher electrical potential. In
other media, any stream of charged objects (ions, for example) may constitute an electric current. To provide a
denition of current that is independent of the type of

4
charge carriers owing, conventional current is dened to
be in the same direction as positive charges. So in metals
where the charge carriers (electrons) are negative, conventional current is in the opposite direction as the electrons. In conductors where the charge carriers are positive, conventional current is in the same direction as the
charge carriers.

CONDUCTION MECHANISMS IN VARIOUS MEDIA

Q
,
t
where Q is the electric charge transferred through the surface over a time t. If Q and t are measured in coulombs
and seconds respectively, I is in amperes.
I=

In a vacuum, a beam of ions or electrons may be formed.

In other conductive materials, the electric current is due
to the ow of both positively and negatively charged particles at the same time. In still others, the current is entirely
due to positive charge ow. For example, the electric currents in electrolytes are ows of positively and negatively
charged ions. In a common lead-acid electrochemical
cell, electric currents are composed of positive hydrogen
ions (protons) owing in one direction, and negative sulfate ions owing in the other. Electric currents in sparks
or plasma are ows of electrons as well as positive and
negative ions. In ice and in certain solid electrolytes, the
electric current is entirely composed of owing ions.

More generally, electric current can be represented as the

rate at which charge ows through a given surface as:

When a metal wire is connected across the two terminals of a DC voltage source such as a battery, the source
places an electric eld across the conductor. The moment
contact is made, the free electrons of the conductor are
forced to drift toward the positive terminal under the inuence of this eld. The free electrons are therefore the
charge carrier in a typical solid conductor.

breakdown process forms a plasma that contains enough

mobile electrons and positive ions to make it an electrical conductor. In the process, it forms a light emitting
conductive path, such as a spark, arc or lightning.

I=

dQ
.
dt

9.2 Electrolytes
Main article: Conductivity (electrolytic)

Electric currents in electrolytes are ows of electrically

charged particles (ions). For example, if an electric eld
is placed across a solution of Na+ and Cl (and conditions
are right) the sodium ions move towards the negative electrode (cathode), while the chloride ions move towards the
9.1 Metals
positive electrode (anode). Reactions take place at both
A solid conductive metal contains mobile, or free elec- electrode surfaces, absorbing each ion.
trons, which function as conduction electrons. These Water-ice and certain solid electrolytes called proton conelectrons are bound to the metal lattice but no longer to ductors contain positive hydrogen ions or "protons" which
an individual atom. Metals are particularly conductive are mobile. In these materials, electric currents are combecause there are a large number of these free electrons, posed of moving protons, as opposed to the moving electypically one per atom in the lattice. Even with no ex- trons found in metals.
ternal electric eld applied, these electrons move about
randomly due to thermal energy but, on average, there is In certain electrolyte mixtures, brightly coloured ions are
slow progress of the
zero net current within the metal. At room temperature, the moving electric charges. The
[16]
colour
makes
the
current
visible.
6
the average speed of these random motions is 10 metres per second.[15] Given a surface through which a metal
wire passes, electrons move in both directions across the
9.3 Gases and plasmas
surface at an equal rate. As George Gamow wrote in his
popular science book, One, Two, Three...Innity (1947), In air and other ordinary gases below the breakdown eld,
The metallic substances dier from all other materials
the dominant source of electrical conduction is via relby the fact that the outer shells of their atoms are bound atively few mobile ions produced by radioactive gases,
rather loosely, and often let one of their electrons go free.
ultraviolet light, or cosmic rays. Since the electrical
Thus the interior of a metal is lled up with a large num- conductivity is low, gases are dielectrics or insulators.
ber of unattached electrons that travel aimlessly around
However, once the applied electric eld approaches the
like a crowd of displaced persons. When a metal wire breakdown value, free electrons become suciently acis subjected to electric force applied on its opposite ends, celerated by the electric eld to create additional free
these free electrons rush in the direction of the force, thus electrons by colliding, and ionizing, neutral gas atoms or
forming what we call an electric current.
molecules in a process called avalanche breakdown. The

Plasma is the state of matter where some of the electrons

in a gas are stripped or ionized from their molecules or
atoms. A plasma can be formed by high temperature, or
For a steady ow of charge through a surface, the cur- by application of a high electric or alternating magnetic
rent I (in amperes) can be calculated with the following eld as noted above. Due to their lower mass, the elecequation:
trons in a plasma accelerate more quickly in response to

5
an electric eld than the heavier positive ions, and hence
carry the bulk of the current. The free ions recombine
to create new chemical compounds (for example, breaking atmospheric oxygen into single oxygen [O2 2O],
which then recombine creating ozone [O3 ]).[17]

9.4

Vacuum

Since a "perfect vacuum" contains no charged particles, it

normally behaves as a perfect insulator. However, metal
electrode surfaces can cause a region of the vacuum to
become conductive by injecting free electrons or ions
through either eld electron emission or thermionic emission. Thermionic emission occurs when the thermal energy exceeds the metals work function, while eld electron emission occurs when the electric eld at the surface
of the metal is high enough to cause tunneling, which
results in the ejection of free electrons from the metal
into the vacuum. Externally heated electrodes are often
used to generate an electron cloud as in the lament or
indirectly heated cathode of vacuum tubes. Cold electrodes can also spontaneously produce electron clouds
via thermionic emission when small incandescent regions
(called cathode spots or anode spots) are formed. These
are incandescent regions of the electrode surface that are
created by a localized high current. These regions may
be initiated by eld electron emission, but are then sustained by localized thermionic emission once a vacuum
arc forms. These small electron-emitting regions can
form quite rapidly, even explosively, on a metal surface
subjected to a high electrical eld. Vacuum tubes and
sprytrons are some of the electronic switching and amplifying devices based on vacuum conductivity.

9.5

Superconductivity

Main article: Superconductivity

Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero
electrical resistance and expulsion of magnetic elds occurring in certain materials when cooled below a characteristic critical temperature. It was discovered by Heike
Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like
ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum mechanical phenomenon. It is characterized by the Meissner eect, the complete ejection of
magnetic eld lines from the interior of the superconductor as it transitions into the superconducting state. The
occurrence of the Meissner eect indicates that superconductivity cannot be understood simply as the idealization of perfect conductivity in classical physics.

9.6

Semiconductor

Main article: Semiconductor

In a semiconductor it is sometimes useful to think of the

current as due to the ow of positive "holes" (the mobile
positive charge carriers that are places where the semiconductor crystal is missing a valence electron). This is
the case in a p-type semiconductor. A semiconductor
has electrical conductivity intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a
conductivity roughly in the range of 102 to 104 siemens
per centimeter (Scm1 ).
In the classic crystalline semiconductors, electrons can
have energies only within certain bands (i.e. ranges of
levels of energy). Energetically, these bands are located
between the energy of the ground state, the state in which
electrons are tightly bound to the atomic nuclei of the material, and the free electron energy, the latter describing
the energy required for an electron to escape entirely from
the material. The energy bands each correspond to a large
number of discrete quantum states of the electrons, and
most of the states with low energy (closer to the nucleus)
are occupied, up to a particular band called the valence
band. Semiconductors and insulators are distinguished
from metals because the valence band in any given metal
is nearly lled with electrons under usual operating conditions, while very few (semiconductor) or virtually none
(insulator) of them are available in the conduction band,
the band immediately above the valence band.
The ease with which electrons in the semiconductor can
be excited from the valence band to the conduction band
depends on the band gap between the bands. The size of
this energy bandgap serves as an arbitrary dividing line
(roughly 4 eV) between semiconductors and insulators.
With covalent bonds, an electron moves by hopping to a
neighboring bond. The Pauli exclusion principle requires
the electron to be lifted into the higher anti-bonding state
of that bond. For delocalized states, for example in one
dimension that is in a nanowire, for every energy there is
a state with electrons owing in one direction and another
state with the electrons owing in the other. For a net
current to ow, more states for one direction than for the
other direction must be occupied. For this to occur, energy is required, as in the semiconductor the next higher
states lie above the band gap. Often this is stated as:
full bands do not contribute to the electrical conductivity. However, as the temperature of a semiconductor rises
above absolute zero, there is more energy in the semiconductor to spend on lattice vibration and on exciting
electrons into the conduction band. The current-carrying
electrons in the conduction band are known as free electrons, although they are often simply called electrons
if context allows this usage to be clear.

10 Current density and Ohms law

Main article: Current density

11

Current density is a measure of the density of an electric

current. It is dened as a vector whose magnitude is the
electric current per cross-sectional area. In SI units, the
current density is measured in amperes per square metre.

DRIFT SPEED

resistance, measured in ohms. For alternating currents,

especially at higher frequencies, skin eect causes the
current to spread unevenly across the conductor crosssection, with higher density near the surface, thus increasing the apparent resistance.

J dA

I=

11 Drift speed

where I is current in the conductor, J is the current

is the dierential cross-sectional area
density, and dA
The mobile charged particles within a conductor move
vector.
constantly in random directions, like the particles of a

The current density (current per unit area) J in mate- gas. In order for there to be a net ow of charge, the
rials with nite resistance is directly proportional to the particles must also move together with an average drift
in the medium. The proportionality con- rate. Electrons are the charge carriers in metals and they
electric eld E
stant is called the conductivity of the material, whose follow an erratic path, bouncing from atom to atom, but
value depends on the material concerned and, in general, generally drifting in the opposite direction of the electric
eld. The speed at which they drift can be calculated from
is dependent on the temperature of the material:
the equation:

J = E
I = nAvQ ,
The reciprocal of the conductivity of the material is
called the resistivity of the material and the above
where
equation, when written in terms of resistivity becomes:
I is the electric current

E
J =

n is number of charged particles per unit volume (or charge carrier density)

= J
E

A is the cross-sectional area of the conductor

Conduction in semiconductor devices may occur by a

combination of drift and diusion, which is proportional
to diusion constant D and charge density q . The current density is then:

v is the drift velocity, and

Q is the charge on each particle.

Typically, electric charges in solids ow slowly. For example, in a copper wire of cross-section 0.5 mm2 , carrying a current of 5 A, the drift velocity of the electrons is
J = E + Dqn,
on the order of a millimetre per second. To take a difwith q being the elementary charge and n the electron ferent example, in the near-vacuum inside a cathode ray
density. The carriers move in the direction of decreasing tube, the electrons travel in near-straight lines at about a
concentration, so for electrons a positive current results tenth of the speed of light.
for a positive density gradient. If the carriers are holes,
Any accelerating electric charge, and therefore any
replace electron density n by the negative of the hole denchanging electric current, gives rise to an electromagnetic
sity p .
wave that propagates at very high speed outside the surIn linear anisotropic materials, , and D are tensors.
face of the conductor. This speed is usually a signicant
In linear materials such as metals, and under low frequen- fraction of the speed of light, as can be deduced from
cies, the current density across the conductor surface is Maxwells Equations, and is therefore many times faster
uniform. In such conditions, Ohms law states that the than the drift velocity of the electrons. For example,
current is directly proportional to the potential dierence in AC power lines, the waves of electromagnetic energy
between two ends (across) of that metal (ideal) resistor propagate through the space between the wires, moving
from a source to a distant load, even though the electrons
(or other ohmic device):
in the wires only move back and forth over a tiny distance.
The ratio of the speed of the electromagnetic wave to the
speed of light in free space is called the velocity factor,
and depends on the electromagnetic properties of the conwhere I is the current, measured in amperes; V is the ductor and the insulating materials surrounding it, and on
potential dierence, measured in volts; and R is the their shape and size.
I=

V
,
R

7
The magnitudes (but, not the natures) of these three velocities can be illustrated by an analogy with the three
similar velocities associated with gases.
The low drift velocity of charge carriers is analogous
to air motion; in other words, winds.
The high speed of electromagnetic waves is roughly
analogous to the speed of sound in a gas (these waves
move through the medium much faster than any individual particles do)
The random motion of charges is analogous to heat
the thermal velocity of randomly vibrating gas particles.

12

See also

Current 3-vector
Direct current
Electric shock
Electrical measurements
History of electrical engineering
Hydraulic analogy
International System of Quantities
SI electromagnetism units

13

References

[1] Anthony C. Fischer-Cripps (2004). The electronics companion. CRC Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-7503-1012-3.
[2] Lakatos, John; Oenoki, Keiji; Judez, Hector; Oenoki,
Kazushi; Hyun Kyu Cho (March 1998). Learn Physics
Today!". Lima, Peru: Colegio Dr. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Retrieved 2009-03-10.
[3] T. L. Lowe, John Rounce, Calculations for A-level Physics,
p. 2, Nelson Thornes, 2002 ISBN 0-7487-6748-7.
[4] Howard M. Berlin, Frank C. Getz, Principles of Electronic
Instrumentation and Measurement, p. 37, Merrill Pub.
Co., 1988 ISBN 0-675-20449-6.
[5] A-M Ampre, Recuil d'Observations lectro-dynamiques,
p. 56, Paris: Chez Crochard Libraire 1822 (in French).
[6] Electric Power, vol. 6, p. 411, 1894.
[7] Consoliver, Earl L., and Mitchell, Grover I. (1920).
Automotive ignition systems. McGraw-Hill. p. 4.
[8] Robert A. Millikan and E. S. Bishop (1917). Elements of
Electricity. American Technical Society. p. 54.

[9] Oliver Heaviside (1894). Electrical papers 1. Macmillan

and Co. p. 283. ISBN 0-8218-2840-1.
[10] N. N. Bhargava and D. C. Kulshreshtha (1983). Basic
Electronics & Linear Circuits. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-07-451965-3.
[11] National Electric Light Association (1915). Electrical metermans handbook. Trow Press. p. 81.
[12] Andrew J. Robinson, Lynn Snyder-Mackler (2007).
Clinical Electrophysiology: Electrotherapy and Electrophysiologic Testing (3rd ed.). Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-7817-4484-3.
[13] What is a Current Sensor and How is it Used?. Focus.ti.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-22.
[14] Andreas P. Friedrich, Helmuth Lemme The Universal
Current Sensor. Sensorsmag.com (2000-05-01). Retrieved on 2011-12-22.
[15] The Mechanism Of Conduction In Metals, Think Quest.
[16] Rudolf Holze, Experimental Electrochemistry: A Laboratory Textbook, page 44, John Wiley & Sons, 2009 ISBN
3527310983.
[17] Lab Note #106 Environmental Impact of Arc Suppression". Arc Suppression Technologies. April 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2012.

14 External links
Allaboutcircuits.com, a useful site introducing electricity and electronics

15

15
15.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

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15.2

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