What is Electric Current?

What is Electric Current?

Electric current is nothing but the rate of flow of electric charge through a conductor with respect to time. It is caused by drift of free electrons through a conductor to a particular direction. As we all know, the measuring unit of electric change is Coulomb and the unit of time is second, the measuring unit of electric current is Coulombs per second and this logical unit of current has a specific name Ampere after the famous French scientist André-Marie Ampere.

If total Q Coulomb charge passes through a conductor by time t, then electric current I = Q / t coulomb par second or Ampere.

For better understanding, let give an example, suppose total 100 coulombs of charge is transferred through a conductor in 50 seconds. What is the electric current?

As the electric current is nothing but the rate at which charge is transferred per unit of time, it would be ratio of total charge transferred to the required time for that. Hence, here electric current I = 100 coulombs / 50 second = 2 Amperes.

'Ampere' is Sl unit of current.
Definition of Electric Current

While a potential difference is applied across a conductor, electrical charge flows through it and electrical electric current is the measure of the quantity of the electrical charge flowing through the conductor per unit time.