Are TRANSMISSION LINE SIGNALS Different from Conductor Signals?

摘要

My recent article on current flow1 has sparked some interesting comments. And based on those comments, there is also still some confusion. I would like to highlight a couple of points and add a couple more. First, the fundamental misunderstanding in talking about electrons as the flow of current is the velocity of the electrons. As I pointed out in my article, there are two velocities: the drift velocity of individual electrons, and the movement of energy through electrons so that we can have an electron exit a conductor after an electron enters the conductor, seemingly at the speed of light. We should forget about the drift velocity; it is not an issue in any way. When an electron (current) enters a conductor (probably driven by a voltage), it "collides" with another electron, which then collides with another electron, and so on. The interaction involves the transfer of energy (probably through photon interaction) among electrons. (This is not the same thing as a "wave." This is a series of independent events.) This continues at the speed of light along the length of the conductor. The last electron in the chain is the one that leaves the conductor. This is how current (electrons) travels at the speed of light.