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Grade 8General Physics

If the electron drift speed is so small, and the electron’s charge is small, how can we still obtain large amounts of current in a conductor?

Profile image of prasanjeet kumar
12 Years agoGrade 8
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1 Answer

Profile image of Saurabh Koranglekar
6 Years ago
Current in the conductorI=Anevd​
wherenis the number density of free electrons,vd​is the drift velocity of electrons,eis its charge andAis the cross-section area of conductor.
Conductors have very large number density of free electrons, nearly1028cm−3, which conduct electric current in the conductor. Thus inspite of having small drift velocity and electronic charge, we obtain large current in the conductor.