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Electrical Current
Electrical current consists of moving electrons
Conductors such as copper are filled with movable charge not unlike a cloud of electrons. A net flow of these charges within the conductor constitutes electrical current flow. An external influence is required to cause the electrons to move through the conductor. This force is usually an applied electric field. When the electric field pushes against the electron cloud, the entire cloud, acting as one, moves. In this way electrons are caused to flow at the opposite end of the electron cloud.
Here is another way to think about current flow. Its the “pipe and ball” analogy for conductors. A conductor is like a pipe full of electrons. If an electron is pushed into one end of the pipe, another electron must fall out at the other end. Think of electron flow through a wire as balls traveling through a pipe, not like an empty pipe that electrons “fall” through.
Measuring Current
Both water molecules and electrons are small. We don’t measure water flow in molecules per minute but by gallons (many, many molecules) per minute. We measure electron flow in much the same way. Electron flow is measured in Coulombs/sec. One Coulomb (C) is equal to 6.25x10 18 electrons. The term that refers to one Coulomb per second of current flow is the Ampere (A). It is informally referred to as an “Amp”. Thus 1A = 1 C/s of electron flow. To restate, the rate of electron movement that would cause one Coulomb of electrons to move across a plane surface bisecting a wire in one second is called 1 Ampere of electron flow.
electron cloud conductor or wire copper nuclei
electron or current flow
electric field pushing in
electron or current flow
electric field pushing in
Specifying electrical current flow in a conductor
To accurately specify a current flowing in a conductor, three bits of information must be known.
To specify a current requires knowing:
- The magnitude of the current flow
- The reference direction of the current flow
- The conductor the current is flowing through
All the above items are commonly conveyed by placing a arrow adjacent to the conductor of interest with the magnitude of the current given by a numerical value and an arrow indicating the reference direction to which the numerical value refers. See the example below.
The direction of the arrow alone does not necessarily indicate the actual direction of current flow. The arrow indicates the reference direction. When coupled with the sign of the current magnitude, the actual direction of current flow may be determined. See the examples below.
To “flip” an arrow’s direction, simply change the sign on the current magnitude. To allow changing the sign on the magnitude, flip the arrow. Remember however the arrow does not necessarily indi- cate the actual direction current flow.
3.5A
current magnitude
reference direction
the conductor to which the current specification applies of the current
3.5A
-3.5A
wire
Relative to the arrow, -3.5A of
Relative to the arrow, 3.5A of current flows to the right
current flows to the left.
Each current indication is correct. In both cases, current flows to the right.
3.5A 3.5A -3.5A -3.5A
Current flows Current flows to right to left
Current flows to left
Current flows to right
To reverse the arrow’s direction, multiply the magnitude by -1.
To change the sign of the magnitude, flip the arrow’s direction.
Note that the DMM has terminals marked as “+” and “-” or COM on it. These markings indicate the reference current direction for the meter. The meter expects positive current to flow into the positive terminal marked with the “+” for there to be a positive reading. In other words, if current actually flows into the positive terminal, the reading on the display will be positive. If the current is flowing out of the positive terminal, the current reading will be negative. The meters “+” and “-” signs make more sense when measuring voltage rather than current. As such, you could imagine that an invisi- ble arrow is on the meter terminals to indicate the expected reference direction.
For measuring larger currents (greater than about 200mA), a very low resistance wire is used inside the DMM. This necessitates the use of a second jack on the DMM. It is just used for high current measurements. This is seen above as the “10ADC” (10 Amps Direct Current) jack on the DMM. The “COM” terminal is also known as the negative “-” terminal. The one marked with “VΩmA” is the positive or “+” terminal.
AC and DC currents
When magnitude and direction of current flowing in a circuit does not vary with time, the current is referred to as direct current (DC). If the current continuously varies amplitude and direction, it is referred to as alternating current (AC).
Face of DMM showing the imaginary reference current arrow
I I
t t Direct Current (DC) Alternating Current (AC)
Ranges of current flow
Typical electrical currents vary a great deal
integrated circuit (chips): 0.1 uA- 10,000mA flashlight 100 mA - 1A home stereo 1 - 2A Bathroom heater 10A (110VAC outlets are 15A - 20A rating) automobile starter motor 100 - 400A power distribution 200 - 1 KA lighting bolt >10 KA
In practice, the ranges of current, voltage and resistance can be very large. It is necessary for engi- neers to be thoroughly familiar with the engineering unit prefixes. The most common ones are shown below.
Commonly Used Engineering Unit Prefixes
Prefix Abbreviation Value Multiplication Factor
tera T 10 12 1,000,000,000,
giga G 109 1,000,000,
mega M 106 1,000,
kilo k 103 1,
none 10 0 1
milli m 10 -3^.
micro u 10 -6^.
nano n 10 -9^.
pico p 10 -12^.
femto f 10 -15^.
atto a 10 -18^.
