If we know that in reality electrons flow from negative to positive, then why is the negative terminal of a battery usually still connected as the ground, and things such as switches usually connect in series to the positive side?
In: Physics
The knowlage of the chage of the particle that moves is later then convention of what is positive and negative.
If you would change is you would either need new symbols and names or have a period where it is had to know what standard is used. It is simple to just keep the convention.
In practice it very seldom matter if you look at it as electricity that flow from + to – instead of elections that flow from – to +. In some application it do matter like in vacuum tubes where the negative catode is heated to get it to emmit free elections easier.
If you look at semiconductors the simples way to think of it is there are both negative and possitve changes that move around. A positive charge is called a hole, short for electron holes, that is where there is a missing electron. It do not matter that holes are not particle by themself it work the same if you consider a missing electron. But it is easier to understand if you have tow particles.
Ground is just what we define as a voltage of 0. For AC system, like most are when there is a physical connection to the physicals ground you have both positive and negative voltages. If you would flip the definition you would still have positive and negative voltages relative to the new ground. The only diffrence is when in time the voltage is positive or negative.
So the practical advantage to changing it is very low compared the problem you will have after the change in knowing what system is used.
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