Electric current is a flow of electric charge through a conductive medium.
In electric circuits this charge is often carried by moving electrons in a wire. It can also be carried by ions in an electrolyte, or by both ions and electrons such as in a plasma.
The SI unit for measuring the rate of flow of electric charge is the ampere, which is charge flowing through some surface at the rate of one coulomb per second. Electric current is measured using an ammeter.
Read more about Electric Current: Symbol, Conduction Mechanisms in Various Media, Current Density and Ohm's Law, Drift Speed, Electromagnetism, Conventions, AC and DC, Occurrences, Current Measurement
Famous quotes containing the words electric and/or current:
“Remember dancing in
those electric shoes?
Remember?
Remember music
and beware.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)