gcsescience.com                                               2                                               gcsescience.com

Electricity

Conventional Current.

A cell is drawn with a long line and a shorter line.
The long line is the positive side (remember plus means more).
The short line is the negative side (remember minus means less).

Cell and Lamp

All electrical circuits are drawn
as though electricity flows from positive to negative.
This is called conventional current.

In reality, electricity is a flow of electrons
and electrons are negatively charged.
They must therefore flow from negative to positive,
since they are repelled from the negative side of the cell
and attracted to the positive side.
This is called real current.

Why are electric circuits deliberately drawn using conventional current,
when we know that this is wrong?
Answer.

Back            Headings            Electricity            Search            Questions            Next

gcsescience.com         Contents         Index         Quizzes         gcsescience.com

Copyright © 2008 Dr. Colin France. All Rights Reserved.