1> Electrons are particles. (Most common at this time)
so electrons carry the charge in the appropriate direction, bump into another electron and pass the charge.
2> Electrons are charges extended in space. (Einstein's favorite I believe)
so electrons rub elbows and transmit the charge like a bucket brigade.
Electrons are matter with a negative charge. They do not pass their charge to another electron. Electrons also demonstrate characteristics of waves.
Einstein died trying to prove this stuff so it's not settled physics yet.
Per Einstein: All matter is dense energy that is spatially extended as a field.
But he never created the Unified Field Theorem he was after so even his conclusions are suspect.
Photons have been demonstrated as a charge passing from electron to electron (particle behavior) and exhibit fringe effects (wave behavior).
Einstein knew this and declared that particles have no rightful existence in our universe.
3> Electrons are standing waves. (A new one)
so electrons get juiced up, couple resonantly with the next in line, and pass the energy.
As is all matter, since it is all really energy in some bound state (according to theory). Exactly how it is bound to make matter is not known but it is certainly interesting reading the theories.
Standing waves are a new theory not widely accepted yet. Einstein's spatially extended fields are the most common; Particle theory is dying out. And it is indeed fascinating.
In any event, the electrons don't actually seem to go anywhere, the different theories all come back to:
Receive energy (boosting the orbit?)
Connect to another electron (bump? resonate? arc?)
Deplete energy (reducing the orbit?)
Energy does not travel in the wire with the charges but travels outside the wire in the surrounding field. The electrons are not getting an "injection" of energy juice and then passing it to their neighbor.
Presumptious since there's not a physicist who can prove that. Again, Einstein died not knowing.
The leading theory right now is actually that the electrons never really travel far from where they start. Instead they DO pass energy along. Per Einstein this is done by bumping fields which are spatially extended from the electron center (not a particle per Einstein). And that the magnetic field is part of the electron's spatially extended field.
As such, the electromagnetic fields are part of the spatially extended field of the electron. Energy transfer occurs within the conductor, Mechanical transfer occurs in the surrounding field, Energy-Mechanical exchange is linked by conversion through the electron.
But hey, you could have it right. I mean, Einstein said he didn't know. Newton said he didn't know. All the top physicists have said they don't know. Maxwell's equations resolve to a black hole at the center of every piece of matter in the universe including the center of electrons. They apply a "normalizing" equation to eliminate the near zero radius impossibility called a black hole because experimentation shows the equations are wrong near zero radius. But though Maxwell's equations are proven to be flawed (in earthly particles) some really smart people still believe they exist out in space by
using Maxwell's equations. Go figure.
So, not actually disagreeing. Just pointing out that the best of the best in physics don't agree yet.
Electrons are very small, so I don't think they bump into each other. They do bump into atoms. An electron will start to accelerate in the direction of the applied field, but then it will hit an atom and bounce back the direction it came from. then it does the whole process over again. That's why the net motion of a single electron is very small.
Contemporary theory holds that electrons aren't really that small. Mainly because contemporary theory says they are either Fields (per Einstein) or Standing Waves (per Wolff). This resolves Newton's problem of matter acting at a distance without any means of communicating. Their fields interact (bump), and there is no actual particle at the center.
The partical effect is caused by energy transfer between matter. The wave effect is created because matter is spacially extended. Maybe. :dunce: We don't really know.