What happens microscopically when an electrical current starts to flow? I'd like to understand microscopically what...

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Physics

What happens microscopically when an electrical current startsto flow? I'd like to understand microscopically what happens indetail when electrons start moving (quasi-classically).
Electrons can have different velocity, they can produceelectromagnetic fields, leads have free electrons and rigid atomcores and there exist electromagnetic fields. That's all theingredients you should need?
Electrons only move due to EM fields, so basically this questionboils down to what the EM fields look like and how they build up?!In steady state, what is the electric and magnetic fielddistribution in/around the lead? And what about the transientstate?
What happens when you attack a battery to a lead? Are there EMfields between battery poles or why are electrons pushed? How dothe EM field start to push electrons along an arbitraritly shapedlong lead?

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4.4 Ratings (970 Votes)

The conduction electrons in a length of wire can be modelled as a Fermi gas Just like molecules in a gas individual electrons wander around randomly and a local increase in density of electrons causes a locally higher pressure You can even get electron density waves that are analogous to sound waves Using this analogy suppose you See Answer

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