JSeery
Member Emeritus
I'll take a crack at this, however, remember going in it is a confusing if you are not familiar with electronics!
In the early years of electric theory and before atomic theory was well understood, it was established that current flowed from a positive source to a negative. Based on this concept the theories of electricity, the basic formulas and symbols were developed. As the atomic nature of mater became better understood it was realized that what was called current was actually the movement of free electrons and that electrons have a negative charge. Free electrons move from a negative source to a positive source. There was a period of time when this flow from negative to positive was considered an important factor and there were attempts to account for it. However because electric/electronic theory was already established and the realization that actual electron movement was not that important in most applications it was determined to keep the original convention of current flow as positive to negative. This is now referred to as Conventional Current Flow and it what is used in almost all references to current flow in a circuit. The other term used is Electron Flow which refers to the actual direction electrons flow in a circuit. The true electron flow is normally only used in explaining specific circuit characteristics.
Current is conducted through some materials and not others. One of the characteristic of conductors is the way the outer part (shell) of the atoms of these materials behave. In most conductors, the electrons are loosely connected to any given atoms nucleus and tend to float or drift around between different atoms (something referred to as an electron cloud). This allows materials such as metals to be shaped. When a metal is hit or bent the atoms can fairly easily reposition themselves as opposed to a rigid outer shell with the electrons held tightly in place (this is really referring to the relationship between the atoms in a material and not to the individual atom). This same property make metals good conductor of current as the electrons can easily move from atom to atom along the conductor. These electrons carry a negative charge and move away from a negative source and toward a positive source, thus the current is moving from the negative to the positive.
It was eventually determined that this actual flow from negative to positive was not an important factor in normal day to day electrical practice. The idea was that it could just as easily be looked at as the “holes” left by the missing electrons (leaving a positive charge to the atom) moving from positive to negative. Now almost everything matched with the original theories and all was well with the world. So, if you are referring to the actual movement of electrons in a circuit it is negative to positive. If you are referring to what is now called Conventional Current Flow, it is from positive to negative.
In the early years of electric theory and before atomic theory was well understood, it was established that current flowed from a positive source to a negative. Based on this concept the theories of electricity, the basic formulas and symbols were developed. As the atomic nature of mater became better understood it was realized that what was called current was actually the movement of free electrons and that electrons have a negative charge. Free electrons move from a negative source to a positive source. There was a period of time when this flow from negative to positive was considered an important factor and there were attempts to account for it. However because electric/electronic theory was already established and the realization that actual electron movement was not that important in most applications it was determined to keep the original convention of current flow as positive to negative. This is now referred to as Conventional Current Flow and it what is used in almost all references to current flow in a circuit. The other term used is Electron Flow which refers to the actual direction electrons flow in a circuit. The true electron flow is normally only used in explaining specific circuit characteristics.
Current is conducted through some materials and not others. One of the characteristic of conductors is the way the outer part (shell) of the atoms of these materials behave. In most conductors, the electrons are loosely connected to any given atoms nucleus and tend to float or drift around between different atoms (something referred to as an electron cloud). This allows materials such as metals to be shaped. When a metal is hit or bent the atoms can fairly easily reposition themselves as opposed to a rigid outer shell with the electrons held tightly in place (this is really referring to the relationship between the atoms in a material and not to the individual atom). This same property make metals good conductor of current as the electrons can easily move from atom to atom along the conductor. These electrons carry a negative charge and move away from a negative source and toward a positive source, thus the current is moving from the negative to the positive.
It was eventually determined that this actual flow from negative to positive was not an important factor in normal day to day electrical practice. The idea was that it could just as easily be looked at as the “holes” left by the missing electrons (leaving a positive charge to the atom) moving from positive to negative. Now almost everything matched with the original theories and all was well with the world. So, if you are referring to the actual movement of electrons in a circuit it is negative to positive. If you are referring to what is now called Conventional Current Flow, it is from positive to negative.
