Science & TechFact

The electrons in your cable crawl slower than a snail.

With one ampere flowing through a 2-millimetre copper wire, the electrons drift on average only 23 micrometres per second. With alternating current they merely shuffle back and forth by fractions of a micrometre. The lamp still lights instantly because of the electric field: it spreads at nearly the speed of light and sets all electrons moving at once.

Useful: A power cable is more like a full pipe: push at one end and something comes out the other immediately.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

AlltagElektrizitaetPhysik

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