What is electricity, really?
Electrons in a wire crawl slower than a snail (a fraction of a millimetre per second), but the push travels almost at light speed, so the lamp lights instantly.
What is electricity, really? ⚡ Explained so simply anyone gets it.
1️⃣ WIRES ARE FULL: a copper wire is already packed with tiny electrons. Electricity is all of them moving together. The battery doesn't fill the wire — it pushes the electrons that are already there.
2️⃣ THEY CRAWL: those electrons are SLOW — slower than a snail! With 1 amp in a 1 mm² copper wire they drift about 0.07 mm per second.
3️⃣ SO WHY IS THE LIGHT INSTANT? Because the PUSH travels at nearly the speed of light — like a tube full of marbles: push one in at one end and one pops out of the other end at once.
(On AC mains, 50 Hz or 60 Hz, the electrons just wiggle back and forth.)
Fast push, slow electrons!
Read the voiceover (transcript)
- What is electricity, really?
- Every wire is already packed with electrons. Electricity is all of them moving together.
- But they crawl, slower than a snail! Less than a millimetre per second.
- So why is the light instant? The push travels at nearly the speed of light!
- Fast push, slow electrons!
- Next: how computers think! Follow for more!
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