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Climber
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Current in "ideal" wires. - circuits
I am trying to get a "complete" picture of what happens in circuits. I know how to solve typical physics circuit problems using kirchhoffs laws and what not, but I am trying to get a "picture" of what is happening inside of the circuit itself in terms of the electric field in each part of the circuit. (the battery, the resistor and the wire)
For simplicity sake, let's say the circuit is just a battery, some "ideal" wire (no resistance), and a resistor.
Here is the picture in my head.. please correct me if I am wrong.
So the battery has a uniform electric field pointing from the positive end to the negative end. This allows the battery to have a potential difference across it that increases the potential energy of the electrons.
As you connect the battery to the circuit, an uniform electric field is created throughout the wire and resistor. In the "ideal" wire, the charges immediately position themselves to cancel out the electric field within the wire, like a conductor. Because the charges are already in motion though, they just continue in motion without an electric field pushing them. (do the charges move along the surface only?)
When charges reach the resistor, there is now an electric field that "pushes" them through the resistor in such a way that no energy is lost in the electrons (the energy given to the electrons from the electric field is the same as the energy dissipated in the resistor), which allows them to keep the same steady current.
The electrons then flow through another ideal wire, then back to the battery where the battery increases the electron's potential energy and the process repeats. Is this about right?
I am trying to get a "complete" picture of what happens in circuits. I know how to solve typical physics circuit problems using kirchhoffs laws and what not, but I am trying to get a "picture" of what is happening inside of the circuit itself in terms of the electric field in each part of the circuit. (the battery, the resistor and the wire)
For simplicity sake, let's say the circuit is just a battery, some "ideal" wire (no resistance), and a resistor.
Here is the picture in my head.. please correct me if I am wrong.
So the battery has a uniform electric field pointing from the positive end to the negative end. This allows the battery to have a potential difference across it that increases the potential energy of the electrons.
As you connect the battery to the circuit, an uniform electric field is created throughout the wire and resistor. In the "ideal" wire, the charges immediately position themselves to cancel out the electric field within the wire, like a conductor. Because the charges are already in motion though, they just continue in motion without an electric field pushing them. (do the charges move along the surface only?)
When charges reach the resistor, there is now an electric field that "pushes" them through the resistor in such a way that no energy is lost in the electrons (the energy given to the electrons from the electric field is the same as the energy dissipated in the resistor), which allows them to keep the same steady current.
The electrons then flow through another ideal wire, then back to the battery where the battery increases the electron's potential energy and the process repeats. Is this about right?