What happens to the unused electric current in my house? Where do the electrons go?
Sunday, February 15th, 2009 at
4:21 am
curiousmind asked:
If I don’t use the electricity provided to my house, then it goes to the next house or wherever it is needed???
If unused, the electrons stop at the wall socket and then go back out of the house?
The water pipe analogy was brilliant. Thanks 
Tagged with: Analogy • Electric Current • Water Pipe
Filed under: Physics
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brighton electrician
like real food but is toy
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Electric current only flows when you have a closed circuit. ie. unless you turn on your light, no electrons go to it.
As for where the electric current goes after, they continue moving in the circuit, having lost voltage across your appliances. Given that they’re AC, they really just go back and forth due to the alternatively positive and negative voltage.
Edit:
See houses are usually hooked up in parallel. If you don’t use electricity, then electrons simply won’t go into your house given that an open circuit is considered infinite resistance when in parallel.
Electric wires are like water pipes. Metals, having the “electron sea” structure, are always filled with electrons. But when you apply a voltage, these electrons are pushed along the wire, like water is pushed along pipes by pressure. So if you have an open circuit, electrons simply won’t go anywhere and will just stay in the metal.
I assumed you have the same level of knowledge as me. Feel free to ask for clarifications if that’s not the case.