What makes the charges flow?

Answer Expert Verified. Electric current or electric charges flow because of the Coulomb’s force on them . The force is due to electric field. The field is created because of potential difference between two end points of a conductor.

Does electric potential determine the flow of charge?

The electric condition, that determines the flow of charge from one conductor to other in contact, is the electric potential. The electric potential difference between two points in an electric circuit is the work done in moving a unit positive charge from one point to the other.

How does current flow in terms of potential?

The direction of an electric current is by convention the direction in which a positive charge would move. Electric current flows from higher electric potential to lower electric potential. As we know that current flows from positive terminal to negative terminal.

Do electrons flow from high potential to low potential?

So although electrons would flow from negative to positive, by convention (agreement), physicists refer to conventional current as a flow from high potential/voltage (positive) to low potential/voltage (negative). When you set up a circuit, conventional current is considered to move from the “+” to the “-” side.

What is produced when these charges flow from your battery to your bulb?

Electric current is a flow of charge When the battery is connected up to the bulb to make a complete circuit, there is an electric current everywhere in the circuit. Something flows steadily. The current is the same at each point in the single circuit loop – there are no leaks!

How does charge depend on potential?

The electric field, E is related to the gradient of the potential, E=−∇V and the force on a charge q is F=qE. This means positive charges move in the direction of decreasing potential and negative charges move in the direction of increasing potential. This also determines the direction that charge will want to move in.

Why do charge flows from higher potential to lower potential?

Electric current flows from a higher potential to lower potential. The electric field exerts an electric field on the electrons in the conductor in the opposite direction. So electrons drift in the opposite direction from – to + terminal.

Why does positive charge flow from high potential to low potential?

Answer: (b) Low potential to high potential. In a way, the higher potential terminal has a larger number of positive charges and a lesser number of negative charges. The current is moving from a higher to a lower potential state.

What is created when charges flow through a wire or another material?

What is an electric current? To produce an electric current, three things are needed: a supply of electric charges (electrons) which are free to flow, some form of push to move the charges through the circuit and a pathway to carry the charges. The pathway to carry the charges is usually a copper wire.