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?

Question

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

Answer 1

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.