Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why?
It means someone is paying attention. When introducing the topic, it's more effective to say that electricity has 2 charges while chromodynamics has 3, and let them discover that those numbers are using different units for "2" and "3" only after they decide to find out more. Carefully qualifying every single statement causes people to stop listening, because they don't care. It's better to correct oneself after-the-f…
Why does current flow the opposite way from the electrons?
251–254 of 254 posts
Re: Why does current flow the opposite way from the electrons?
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
> even laypeople understand it more scientifically Laypeople use more scientific-sounding words, sure, but what more scientific way is there to understand something than to have discovered it yourself through experiment?
Experimentation brings knowledge, not understanding. Franklin did not understand electricity, but merely observed it. It wasn't until we discovered the electron proper and Maxwell did his work that we-- anyone-- understood electricity. Understanding comes from scientific and academic rigor after the discovery.
I’d even say that we don’t yet fully understand the electron!
Re: Why does current flow the opposite way from the electrons?
#253Because he didn't know anything about electrons, and the experiment he did involving rubbing amber and glass rods on fur and silk cloth only showed that something was transferred between the two materials, and that when the material containing the substance was brought near to the other material containing the other substance, the property conferred by the substances appeared to negate. If you read Teaching Introduct…
It really seems like had a rationale: "We suppose as aforesaid, That Electrical Fire is a common Element, of which every one of the three Persons abovementioned has his equal Share before any Operation is begun with the Tube. A who stands on Wax, and rubs the Tube, collects the Electrical Fire from himself into the Glass; and his Communication with the common Stock being cut off by the Wax, his Body is not again imme…
How did we wind up with electrified? Where did the f come from?
EDIT: I guess this [1].
Re: Why does current flow the opposite way from the electrons?
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
So? That things "normally" should move positive to negative or vice versa is also a convention.
It helps me visually when looking at a circuit diagram if I can think about the current flowing "down", like most rivers do in the Northern Hemisphere. It's just a vague association in my mind, but it is based in physical reality.