>>13435245So im sure you know that electrons make up a current. People didnt know that before, so they guessed (incorrectly) that it was the positive charges that are moving. It really doesn't matter which you choose, mathematically speaking. In a neutral wire, an electron moving to the right of a proton isn't really different from the proton moving to the left of the electron. Kinda like if u stand next to a person, them moving to the right of you looks like you moving to the left in a different perspective.
If you're doing the math in physics, we talk about the positive charges, rather than the electrons since that's the way it's always been, and switching is a huge waster of time when the math works out. In a diagram, the positive charges/current moves from the (+) to the (-) by convention.
A current is the movement of charges, q, with respect to time, or . But what causes charges to move? The answer is an electric potential difference, or voltage difference. Let's use a gravity analogy.
If you're on the edge of a cliff, and your mother is standing next to you, there is no gravitational potential difference between yall. Say you step off the cliff and fall down. The reason you start moving downward after stepping off is because the potential difference gradient is pointing downwards, and non-zero potential differences induces a Force. Let's go back to electricity. If a bird stands on an open wire, why does it not get shocked? Both it's feet are on the wire, which means there is NO potential difference. If a squirrel were touching both the non insulated wire and a tree (which is grounded), there there IS a potential difference. An electric fence is a mix of wires that are both grounded and not, meaning there are a lot of potential differences if you touch multiple wires, meaning u get shocked.
