3.3 - ELECTRIC CURRENTS IN CONDUCTORS
Enroll to start learning
You’ve not yet enrolled in this course. Please enroll for free to listen to audio lessons, classroom podcasts and take practice test.
Practice Questions
Test your understanding with targeted questions
What is electric current?
💡 Hint: Think about what a continuous movement of charge would imply.
What causes free electrons to move in a conductor?
💡 Hint: Recall the direction in which positive and negative charges move.
4 more questions available
Interactive Quizzes
Quick quizzes to reinforce your learning
What defines electric current?
💡 Hint: Think about charge movement, not thermal or other forms.
Drift velocity is a measure of:
💡 Hint: Consider how charges are influenced by electric fields in conductors.
Get performance evaluation
Challenge Problems
Push your limits with advanced challenges
A copper wire has a length of 2 m and a cross-sectional area of 1.0 × 10–6 m² carrying a current of 0.5 A. Calculate the drift velocity of the electrons if there are approximately 8.5 × 10²⁸ free electrons per cubic meter.
💡 Hint: Remember to convert your measures to SI units before calculating!
Discuss how increasing temperature affects the resistivity of a conductor and how that impacts current flow.
💡 Hint: Think about the relationship between temperature, resistivity, and conductor material.
Get performance evaluation
Reference links
Supplementary resources to enhance your learning experience.