Maybe not the best title to explain what I mean, English is not my first language.
I just saw pigeons in a train station, sitting on electric wires. Obviously it does not die since it does not have contact to the ground or anything else that could transmit the electricity.
But how does the electric current notice if there is a way through the pigeon (or anything else) or not? Since the pigeon is alive, the current apparently does not flow through it?
So how does the current know?
Yes, I’m not the best in physics lol
In: Physics
The same way water “knows” there’s a hole in a bucket.
Electricity “flows” towards areas of lower potential, lower charge density. Electrons can technically go through anything – air, pigeons, rubber – just like how water flows down hill but will “rise” if there’s enough pressure/flow entering an area with insufficient outlet.
With electricity, you can sort of view highly conductive things as “downhill” and less conductivity things as “uphill.” The physics of electron flow determines that electrons flow “downhill,” but they can technically flow “uphill” under the right conditions.
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