How does electricity get stored ? How does it move down a cable? And will I slow it down if the cable is curved or bent (the way water will in a hose)

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How does electricity get stored ? How does it move down a cable? And will I slow it down if the cable is curved or bent (the way water will in a hose)

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Anonymous 0 Comments

I’m going to focus on the “curve” part of your question because it’s actually really super interesting. The short answer is “yes”, and the longer answer is “but it’s completely not like what happens with a hose”.

You’ve probably seen cables with a **ferrite bead**: a [cylindrical “bump”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead) where the cable loops about the cylinder. This is just a wire that’s looped around and, for good measure, has a lump of stuff called ferrite. The ferrite isn’t actually essential to what happens, but it does make it work better.

Electricity and magnetism are closely related. When there’s a surge of electricity, that creates a surge of magnetism. And surge of magnetism will create a surge of electricity. This is how electric motors work: the electricity creates a magnetic field which pushes against the magnets in the motor. It’s also how a generator works: when wire spins near a magnet, the magnet causes an electric current to flow.

When you make a loop in a wire (and especially if there’s a lump of ferrite which makes it work better), then any sudden inrush of electricity will be converted to a magnetic field. That field will slowly decay. The result is that a sharp pulse of electricity gets converted to a slow mushy pulse.

So – the electricity isn’t really slowed, but it is really slowed, but it depends on whether it’s a slow ramp-up of current or a sudden shock. And the cause is 100% not like why a curve in a water pipe slows down water.

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