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

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