What does return current path do? Do electrons actually FLOW all the way through circuit and return?

Question

I know that applying potential difference at the ends of a metal wire will cause some of the outermost electrons from the metal atoms to ‘flow’. Do they actually flow? All the way till the resistance/load knocks them out of the higher energy state and they return through the ‘return path’ back to the conductor?

What if there is no return path? Will the metal wire ‘run out’ of the current electrons?

So is it the number of ‘available’ electrons that limits the amount of current that could pass through the wire? High potential difference will cause low energy level electrons to jump to higher energy level but could it completely knock out all electrons from the conductor?

These are too many questions; please try to answer whatever you could explain very simply. Thanks in advance

Answer 1

When you drop a rock in a pond...do the water molecules travel from the rock to the farthest reaches of the pond?

Of course not...just the 'waves'...they travel away from the rock (longitudinal) and up and down (transverse)

Same way with electrical energy!

Now picture the antenna whip on your car...just ends in space...doesn't it...so the electrical waves (vibrations) can leave closed circuits and travel through space...that's how your radio works...

When you design high frequency circuits you have to be very careful of how you place electrical components and conductors in relation to each other or the energy will 'leave' the wires....

By the way...very intuitive on your part...if you increase the potential high enough you can actually rip electrons out of the inner most orbitals of atoms and the mass will vaporize!  This would be a different type of electrical energy flow where you are actually moving charged particles from one point to another in mass (i.e., the water analogy of shooting water from a hose)...

Electron movement in a wire is more a consequence of this moving energy...and unless you want to heat up something...somewhat of a nuisance and energy loss...

And...one of the most widely used components in electronics...the capacitor...is designed NOT to pass electrons!...it is quite simply two metal plates with a non-conductor in between (dielectric)...if this dielectric conducts electrons the capacitor is usually ruined...of course what capacitors will pass is electrical energy...the vibrations can go right through them depending on their size and other physical attributes....

And how bout a transformer...nothing more then electrical energy passing from a primary to a secondary...of course there is electrical insulation from the primary to secondary and no electrons cross this barrier...

Sorry, got a little wordy here but assumed you wanted this type of reply from the length of your question...but I kept it simple...in reality there is another force...magnetic that flows along with the electric...

Keep on thinking!!!!

Answer 2

Please be careful,in conductors there are billions of FREE electrons.When they are in an electrical field of a few volts,they move as fast as you walk to your school NOT the SPEED of Light.Because there are a plenty of them and each has a charge in coulombs,you know I=Q/SEC

you get n amperage of a few.They are not from the metal atoms but free.No return path means no potential field.The electrons of atoms do not change their bands.

Answer 3

Good question and well stated.

Electricity is more about moving energy than electrons.

You may have seen steel balls one against the other.  When one end is struck, the last ball in the string moves immediately.  If they were in a tube, forcing a ball in one end would result instantly in a ball coming out the other end.

Same with electrons in a conductor.  The voltage source applies energy at one end of the circuit and draws energy out the other end .  No return path, no circuit, no energy flow.

Answer 4

THE FACT MUST BE KNOWN TO YOU THAT ELECTRONS FLOW FROM LOWER POTENTIAL TO HIGH POTENTIAL. sO WHENEVER THE CURRENT STARTS FLOWING THE ELECTRONS MOVE TO THE HIGH POTENTIAL.