why electric current flows in opposite direction of the flow of electrons?
Answers
The particles that carry charge through wires in a circuit are mobile electrons. The electric field direction within a circuit is by definition the direction that positive test charges are pushed. Thus, these negatively charged electrons move in the direction opposite the electric field. But while electrons are the charge carriers in metal wires, the charge carriers in other circuits can be positive charges, negative charges or both. In fact, the charge carriers in semiconductors, street lamps and fluorescent lamps are simultaneously both positive and negative charges traveling in opposite directions.
Ben Franklin, who conducted extensive scientific studies in both static and current electricity, envisioned positive charges as the carriers of charge. As such, an early convention for the direction of an electric current was established to be in the direction that positive charges would move. The convention has stuck and is still used today. The direction of an electric current is by convention the direction in which a positive charge would move. Thus, the current in the external circuit is directed away from the positive terminal and toward the negative terminal of the battery. Electrons would actually move through the wires in the opposite direction. Knowing that the actual charge carriers in wires are negatively charged electrons may make this convention seem a bit odd and outdated. Nonetheless, it is the convention that is used worldwide and one that a student of physics can easily become accustomed to.
Electrons ( or negative charge) flow from negative potential to positive potential ,or we can also say that positive charge flow from positive to negative potential. Electric current or Conventional current is assumed to be flow to positive charge, Hence ,the direction of Electric current ( Conventional current) is opposite to the direction of electron.
But why use two conventions for the same thing. Actually the story began…
In 1752 , Benjamin Franklin did a kite experiment in which he and his son flew a kite with a pointed, conductive wire attached to its apex ,It was flown near thunder clouds to collect electricity from the air. Electricity from the storm clouds transferred to the kite and electricity flowed down the string and gave him a little shock ,He called it charge or electric fluid ( basically a positive charge).
Being a pioneer in that field, his theory was adopted that flow of postive charge is called Electricity ( i.e. conventional current ) . But was Benjamin Franklin really the first person to discover electricity? Maybe not, but the idea got famous from here.
In 1897 ,Electron was discovered, however by 1897 , Franklin's convention had been in use for nearly 150 years, so appeared in thousands of books, tens of thousands of electrical circuit diagrams, and millions of minds by then.
Although Franklin's convention is not true in the context of conducting metals, it continues to be used in textbooks and circuits .
Finally , I would like to clarify that current flows in the conductor is due to flow of electrons , but since the conventional current direction which is assumed to be the flow of positive charge does not harm our main notion, this continues to be used.
Direction of conventional current can be seen as opposite charge particles, move in the opposite direction ( Double negation make our original fact to be true)
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