How electricity flows | OhmCheck.com

How electricity flows from point to point

Summary: Does electricity flow from negative to positive, or the other way around? Read to find out and more.

Does lightning strike from the ground to the sky, or from the sky to the ground? Does electricity flow from positive to negative, or from negative to positive?

These are questions that we often ponder. Well to answer these questions, you must first understand what the flow of electricity is.

The flow of electricity or voltage is referred to as current flow, or the the movement of electric charge. The flow is moved by tiny electrons that circle the nuclei of an atom. These electrons carry an electric charge, and when these electrons move from atom to atom, this is electric current.

Current flow

The atoms have negative and positive sides which attract each other. If there is a difference between the amount of negative and positive atoms at one end of the wire to the other, then the atoms will move to equal out. The negative charged electrons will move towards the positive electrons, this is electric current flow.

As for the lightning, well scientists are actually still disputing this one, but I got a feeling that it flows to the side needing negative electrons. Just like the licks to the center of the lollypop, the world may never know!

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