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I was in a reddit argument with someone who said electrons didn't flow at the speed of light in a circuit. Then he linked the Wikipedia page for drift velocity and defeated me in one fell swoop. Now, my entire understanding of electricity and electrons has been thrown upside down. I thought that electron flow in a circuit was essentially like pushing a chain of balls that each bounce off each other, and since electrons travel near the speed of light, this was why electricity was nearly instantaneous in a circuit. But, it seems that the electrons simply carry the electromagnetic wave coming from the power source by use of their own electrical field. Since electromagnetic waves can travel at the speed of light, is this how the effects of electricity travel independently of the electron drift velocity?

Qmechanic
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snowg
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    A train doesn't travel at the speed of light but the instance the first carriage moves, the last one follows almost immediately. Electricity is like a moving train in a way. – For the love of maths Mar 24 '19 at 07:56
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    The electric force between electrons moves at the speed of light, so if one electron moves, the next one starts moving almost instantaneously, and so on down the wire. – hdhondt Mar 24 '19 at 09:04
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    have a look http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/miccur.html and http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/ohmmic.html#c1 and http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Solids/Fermi.html#c1 and http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/ohmmic.html#c1 – anna v Mar 24 '19 at 09:27
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    Possible duplicate of Why the electric bulb turns on almost instantly when the switch is closed? – Thomas Fritsch Mar 24 '19 at 10:30
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    "Pushing a chain of balls" wasn't quite too far off the mark. The trick is realizing that it's not the balls that matter so much as the push that matters, and how and how fast that (or more properly, the disturbance or wave generated thereby) travels down the line of balls. The push, after all, is the actual energy; the balls are just a medium for the transport thereof. – The_Sympathizer Mar 24 '19 at 12:50

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