# 13.2 Current and measurement

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## Flow of charge

We have been talking about moving charge. But how much charge is moving, and how fast is it moving? The concept that represents this information is called current . Current allows us to quantify the movement of charge.

When we talk about current we talk about how much charge moves past a fixed point in circuit in one second. Think of charges being pushed around the circuit by the battery; there are charges in the wires but unless there is a battery they won't move. When one charge moves, the charges next to it also move. They keep their spacing as if you had a tube of marbles like in this picture.

If you push one marble into the tube then one must come out the other side. If you look at any point in the tube and push one marble into the tube, one marble will move past the point you are looking at. This is similar to charges in the wires of a circuit.

If one charge moves then they all move and the same number move at every point in the circuit. This is due to the conservation of charge.

## Current

Now that we've thought about moving charges and visualised what is happening we need to get back to quantifying moving charge. We've already said that we call moving charge current but we define it precisely as follows:

Current

Current is the rate of flow of charge, i.e. the rate at which charges move past a fixed point in a circuit. We use the symbol I to show current and it is measured in amperes (A). One ampere is one coulomb of charge moving in one second. The relationship between current, charge and time is given by:

$I=\frac{Q}{\Delta t}$

When current flows in a circuit we show this on a diagram by adding arrows. The arrows show the direction of flow in the circuit. By convention we say that charge flows from the positive end ( or terminal) of a battery, through the circuit, and back to the negative end ( or terminal) of the battery. This is shown in the diagram below. We measure the current with an instrument called an ammeter.

The arrows in this picture show you the direction that charge will flow in the circuit. Note that the arrows point from the positive end of the battery, through the circuit, towards the negative end of the battery.

## Interesting fact

Benjamin Franklin made a guess about the direction of charge flow when rubbing smooth wax with rough wool.He thought that the charges flowed from the wax to the wool (i.e. from positive to negative) which was opposite to the realdirection. Due to this, electrons are said to have a negative charge and so objects which Ben Franklin called "negative" (meaning a shortage of charge) really have an excess of electrons. By the time the true direction of electron flow wasdiscovered, the convention of ´positive¡ and ´negative¡ had already been so well accepted in the scientific world that noeffort was made to change it.
A battery does not produce the same amount of current no matter what is connected to it. While the voltageproduced by a battery is constant, the amount of current supplied depends on what is in the circuit.

## Exercises: current

Using the relationship between current, charge, and time, calculate the current in a circuit which has $0,8\phantom{\rule{2pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{C}$ of charge passing a point every second.

1. $I=\frac{Q}{\Delta t}$
2. Given: $Q=0,8\phantom{\rule{2pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{C}$

$\Delta t=1\phantom{\rule{2pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{s}$

3. $\begin{array}{}I=\frac{0,8\phantom{\rule{2pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{C}}{1\phantom{\rule{2pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{s}}\\ \phantom{x}=0,8\phantom{\rule{2pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{A}\end{array}$

where we get a research paper on Nano chemistry....?
what are the products of Nano chemistry?
There are lots of products of nano chemistry... Like nano coatings.....carbon fiber.. And lots of others..
learn
Even nanotechnology is pretty much all about chemistry... Its the chemistry on quantum or atomic level
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da
no nanotechnology is also a part of physics and maths it requires angle formulas and some pressure regarding concepts
Bhagvanji
Preparation and Applications of Nanomaterial for Drug Delivery
revolt
da
Application of nanotechnology in medicine
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I only see partial conversation and what's the question here!
what about nanotechnology for water purification
please someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think one can use nanoparticles, specially silver nanoparticles for water treatment.
Damian
yes that's correct
Professor
I think
Professor
Nasa has use it in the 60's, copper as water purification in the moon travel.
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what is the stm
is there industrial application of fullrenes. What is the method to prepare fullrene on large scale.?
Rafiq
industrial application...? mmm I think on the medical side as drug carrier, but you should go deeper on your research, I may be wrong
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How we are making nano material?
what is a peer
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LITNING
scanning tunneling microscope
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how nano science is used for hydrophobicity
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Do u think that Graphene and Fullrene fiber can be used to make Air Plane body structure the lightest and strongest. Rafiq
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what is simplest way to understand the applications of nano robots used to detect the cancer affected cell of human body.? How this robot is carried to required site of body cell.? what will be the carrier material and how can be detected that correct delivery of drug is done Rafiq
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if virus is killing to make ARTIFICIAL DNA OF GRAPHENE FOR KILLED THE VIRUS .THIS IS OUR ASSUMPTION
Anam
analytical skills graphene is prepared to kill any type viruses .
Anam
Any one who tell me about Preparation and application of Nanomaterial for drug Delivery
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what is Nano technology ?
write examples of Nano molecule?
Bob
The nanotechnology is as new science, to scale nanometric
brayan
nanotechnology is the study, desing, synthesis, manipulation and application of materials and functional systems through control of matter at nanoscale
Damian
Is there any normative that regulates the use of silver nanoparticles?
what king of growth are you checking .?
Renato
What fields keep nano created devices from performing or assimulating ? Magnetic fields ? Are do they assimilate ?
why we need to study biomolecules, molecular biology in nanotechnology?
?
Kyle
yes I'm doing my masters in nanotechnology, we are being studying all these domains as well..
why?
what school?
Kyle
biomolecules are e building blocks of every organics and inorganic materials.
Joe
The fundamental frequency of a sonometer wire streached by a load of relative density 's'are n¹ and n² when the load is in air and completly immersed in water respectively then the lation n²/na is
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