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Electricity and Magnetism Electric Current An electric current is a flow of charged particles. A current in a metal is due to the movement of electrons. In a conducting solution, the current is due to the movement of ions. Current is measured using an ammeter. An ammeter measures the rate of flow of charge. For simplicity, an ammeter can be thought of as a "counter of electrons": it gives a reading which is proportional to the number of electrons which pass through it per second. The unit of current is the Ampere, A.
Current in Series Circuits
A current of 2A corresponds to a certain (very large!) number of electrons passing per second. So if I1= 2A, I2 and I3 must also be 2A because in a series circuit, the electrons have only one path to follow. Conclusion The current is the same at all points in a series circuit. Currents in Parallel Circuits
If the three current I1, I2 and I are measured it is found that
This is inevitable if current readings correspond to numbers of electrons passing per second.
As an analogy, consider vehicles at a road junction.
The number of vehicles passing point 1, per minute, must be equal to the number of vehicles passing point 2 per minute plus the number of vehicles passing point 3 per minute.
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© David Hoult 2008 |
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