AC current is the back and forth movement of electrons in a wire. If something uses some of the power, does that mean that there are more electrons moving in one direction and less in the other because some of the electrons are used up powering the thing?
In: Physics
electrons are not used up to power things. The number of electrons in a wire doesn’t really change at all, no matter how much they’re powering something. Only their kinetic energy is used up. Think of it like a waterwheel. The waterwheel doesn’t actually consume water, it just takes some of the water’s kinetic energy
Think of the electrons as a stream of water: if you hold a hose against your toy to push it away, the water does not get “used up”, but just loses its energy.
It is similar with electric current – the extra complication here is that AC means that the “stream” is pushing back and forth – but the image still holds: they lose some energy, but the electrons are still there.
Using electricity doesn’t “use up” electrons, just like a water wheel doesn’t “use up” water. It’s the movement that carries the energy. In the case of AC, the power source is jiggling electrons back and forth a few micrometers, all throughout the circuit, and something drawing power in that circuit just makes it harder to move them, requiring more power.
Electricity doesn’t “use up” electrons.
Imagine you have a chain around gears, the links of the chain don’t get used up as they go around the sprocket, but they are still transferring power. Electricity isn’t the electrons themselves, but rather the movement of those electrons.
Everybody using water for some reason.
Look. You got a stick taped to… A lizard. When you push the lizard-stick, the stick doesn’t get used up. When you pull on the lizard-stick, the stick doesn’t get used up. The lizard just moves around according to how you move the stick. You want the lizard to move more, move the stick more.
Same thing with electrons. You’re pushing and pulling, but they don’t get used up. They’re the stick.
Source: I am a disgruntled electrical engineer.
The electrons don’t move into the thing being powered.
They generate an electromagnetic field, which is made of photons.
Those photons then make electrons in the powered object move.
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