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In other media, any stream of charged objects (ions, for example) may constitute an electric current. To provide a definition of current independent of the type of charge carriers, conventional current is defined as moving in the same direction as the positive charge flow. So, in metals where the charge carriers (electrons) are negative ...
The electric field was formally defined as the force exerted per unit charge, but the concept of potential allows for a more useful and equivalent definition: the electric field is the local gradient of the electric potential. Usually expressed in volts per metre, the vector direction of the field is the line of greatest slope of potential, and ...
The usual waveform of alternating current in most electric power circuits is a sine wave, whose positive half-period corresponds with positive direction of the current and vice versa (the full period is called a cycle). "Alternating current" most commonly refers to power distribution, but a wide range of other applications are technically ...
Skin effect — Tendency of charges to distribute at the surface of a conductor, when an alternating current passes through it. Static electricity — Class of phenomena involving the imbalanced charge present on an object, typically referring to charge with voltages of sufficient magnitude to produce visible attraction (e.g., static cling ...
Electric charge is a conserved property: the net charge of an isolated system, the quantity of positive charge minus the amount of negative charge, cannot change. Electric charge is carried by subatomic particles. In ordinary matter, negative charge is carried by electrons, and positive charge is carried by the protons in the nuclei of atoms ...
The term DC is used to refer to power systems that use only one electrical polarity of voltage or current, and to refer to the constant, zero-frequency, or slowly varying local mean value of a voltage or current. [9] For example, the voltage across a DC voltage source is constant as is the current through a direct current source.
An electrical network consisting of a closed loop, giving a return path for the current. electric current A flow of electric charge through a conductive medium. electric displacement field electric field The region of space surrounding electrically charged particles and time-varying magnetic fields. The electric field represents the force ...
Ohm's law states that the electric current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the voltage across the two points. Introducing the constant of proportionality, the resistance, [1] one arrives at the three mathematical equations used to describe this relationship: [2]