Electric Drift
The drift velocity deals with the average velocity that a particle, such as an electron, attains due to an electric field. In general, an electron will 'rattle around' in a conductor at the Fermi velocity randomly. Free electrons in a conductor vibrate randomly, but without the presence of an electric field there is no net velocity. When a DC voltage is applied the electrons will increase in speed proportional to the strength of the electric field. These speeds are on the order of millimeters per hour. AC voltages cause no net movement; the electrons oscillate back and forth in response to the alternating electric field.
Read more about this topic: Speed Of Electricity
Famous quotes containing the words electric and/or drift:
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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Is a stringed lute on which all winds can play,
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Methinks my life is a twice-written scroll
Scrawled over on some boyish holiday”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)