Physics question about Electricity?

Question

So I'm trying to understand in full, on the atomic level, how electricity works.

So from what I understood electricity is the electron flow from one Negatively charged terminal (more electrons than protons) to one Positively charged terminal (more protons than electrons in respect to the negatively charged terminal) through a medium known as a conductor.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

My question is, how exactly does that concept of electron flow transfer to a light bulb turning and staying on, an oven producing and emitting heat, or a computer system turning and staying on?  Are the electrons somehow powering the electronic device?  Are the electrons traveling so fast that they emit light/heat/energy and then that light/heat/energy is harnessed into the device?  How does it work exactly?

? · Accepted Answer

This is the wrong forum for DETAILED sub atomic particle explanation of electricity as then applied to the marco world of appliance operation.
The individual electron does not travel very far. It is very small. It is the effect of one electron on the next one in the wire that is the flow of electricity.
To add confusion on the wire the electrical flow goes from the Positive to the ground or negative 
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circuits/Lesson-2/Electric-Current

The filament in the light bulb is the electrical conductor. 
When an electron changes state. It first absorbs energy to move up. The atomic level.
When it moves back to normal it releases this energy in the form of VISIBLE energy (light) and low and higher energy you detect as heat.
Oven is like a light bulb. Th e heating element might emit RED Light as it gets going it also releases heat. Just like a light bulb. It is a different conductor designed for the purpose.

The computer is a little complicated. It is your BITS which are on or off. The famous Zero and One of Binary Math.
That and the addition of Boolean Algebra.
I am not about to summarize a full year physics course into a few sentences.

The individual electron moves at "Drift Speed" from one atom to another in a rather chaotic way and direction.

Drift speed refers to the average distance traveled by a charge carrier per unit of time. Like the speed of any object, the drift speed of an electron moving through a wire is the distance to time ratio. The path of a typical electron through a wire could be described as a rather chaotic, zigzag path characterized by collisions with fixed atoms.

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circuits/Lesson-2/Electric-Current

Andrew Smith · Answer

The only thing that the electrons do is to gain energy from electric fields then give the energy up via some other mechanism.
In motors and the like the energy is given up via the creation and modification of magnetic fields.

For thermal devices there are collisions between electrons and atoms.  Causing some random motion of the atoms that they collide with.  This is exactly what heat is.

There are other types of energy release such as the raising of energy levels in a gas discharge tube.  Or the excitation of atoms in an LED light.

Physics question about Electricity?

2 Answers