We have yet to take a look at how electricity really powers our electronic circuits. Yes, we know we have to power our signals to go throuogh our IC’s, LED’s, etc. We will take a look at how electricty does what it does. We are going to be looking at this through a very foggy lens. What I mean is, we will not be getting down to fine scientific detail – save that for physics class.
Like a River
In many ways, we can think of electricity and circuits kind of like water flowing through a river. Only we are talking about electrons flowing as electric current. In a river, the water flows through a river bed, in a circuit the riverbed is the wire or other conductive material.
Conductivity
Electricity needs a medium (material) to flow through. Some materials allow electricity to do this easily, others…not so much. The ability to conduct electricity refers to a materials conductivity. Some materails have a high conductivity, and we generally call these conductors. Other materials have low conductivity, and we generally refer to them as insulators. Remember that it is a range, some conductors work better than others; likewise with insulators.
A really good conductor is silver. Silver is generally the best conductor of the metals. Slightly better than copper, and quite a bit better than aluminum. Silver is a good conductor because it provides little resistance to the electricty passing through. Silver is a good conductor because it gains or loses an electron very easily, so the flowing electrons can travel along nicely. Silver, however, is often not used for electrical contacts because it corrodes. A little bit of corrosion on a tiny connector could be disasterous.
Question: Why is tap water a conductor and pure distiled water an insulator?
Visit: this brief introduction to Ohm’s Law.
Ohms law is a way to calculate the resistance, voltage, and current in a circuit.
