Electricity doesn’t travel through wires

773 viewsOtherPhysics

I saw a few youtube videos explaining that electricity doesn’t actually travel through wires but directly to the bulb from the battery. I understood their explanation. But now I have a doubt. Since energy flows directly to the bulb, can I shield the bulb in some way such that the circuit is complete and even then the bulb doesn’t light up?

In: Physics

13 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

No that’s not possible. A shield where a wire goes through isn’t a working shield against EM. Also I know the video you mean. 

Right in the end there is a little hint about “wave resistance (impedance) of the wire”. The time until the “full” electricity reaches the bulb depends on the wire, just the first bit of energy is travelling through air, and you could indeed shield that to delay the light turning on by a few microseconds 

You are viewing 1 out of 13 answers, click here to view all answers.