Circuits Physics

Question

Explain how conventional current would be defined differently if early scientists understood that the current they were “playing with” really was.

Answer 1

Initially, when Ben Franklin (and others) described electricity, he knew something was moving and had to make an assumption/conjecture about which direction it was moving.  His conjecture was that positive particles were moving from positive to negative.  Many of the conventions in electricity were based on this definition, such as the symbol for a diode.  However, once we learned more about what's actually going on, we realized it's actually the electrons with a negative charge moving from negative to positive.  If Ben Franklin had made his conjecture the other way, we would probably define positive and negative differently and describe the flow of electricity the other direction, matching which way electrons are moving.

Answer 2

In the modern definition, current is a flow of electrons that travel through conductors in a single direction.

 

In the age of early scientists such as Ben Franklin, current can be defined as an electrical substance that travels through all mediums or materials that it is attracted to.  This includes metals and bodies of water.  It could even travel through a kite string as it did in Ben Franklin's situation.