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A current in a wire or circuit element can flow in either of two directions. When defining a variable to represent the current, the direction representing positive current must be specified, usually by an arrow on the circuit schematic diagram. [12] [13]: 13 This is called the reference direction of the current .
When a conductor such as a wire attached to a circuit moves through a magnetic field, an electric current is induced in the wire due to Faraday's law of induction. The current in the wire can have two possible directions. Fleming's right-hand rule gives which direction the current flows.
Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even through a vacuum as in electron or ion beams. The electric current flows in a constant direction, distinguishing it from alternating current (AC). A term formerly used for this type of current was galvanic current. [1]
Fleming's left-hand rule. Fleming's left-hand rule for electric motors is one of a pair of visual mnemonics, the other being Fleming's right-hand rule for generators. [1] [2] [3] They were originated by John Ambrose Fleming, in the late 19th century, as a simple way of working out the direction of motion in an electric motor, or the direction of electric current in an electric generator.
In mathematics and physics, the right-hand rule is a convention and a mnemonic, utilized to define the orientation of axes in three-dimensional space and to determine the direction of the cross product of two vectors, as well as to establish the direction of the force on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field.
Illustration of the "reference directions" of the current (), voltage (), and power () variables used in the passive sign convention.If positive current is defined as flowing into the device terminal which is defined to be positive voltage, then positive power (big arrow) given by the equation = represents electric power flowing into the device, and negative power represents power flowing out.
This means that the direction of the back EMF of an induced field opposes the changing current that is its cause. D.J. Griffiths summarized it as follows: Nature abhors a change in flux. [7] If a change in the magnetic field of current i 1 induces another electric current, i 2, the direction of i 2 is opposite that of the change in i 1.
Electric current can flow through some things, electrical conductors, but will not flow through an electrical insulator. [42] By historical convention, a positive current is defined as having the same direction of flow as any positive charge it contains, or to flow from the most positive part of a circuit to the most negative part.