Question

The electronic current flows opposite to the conventional current. True/False?

Answer 1

Hint: When potential difference is applied to a conductor, the electrons start drifting from the negative terminal towards the positive terminal of the battery. But by convention, we consider the current to be flowing from the positive terminal to the negative terminal of the battery.

Complete step by step solution:
The electric current is basically the flow of charge from one terminal to another.
A conductor consists of a large number of atoms with their loosely held electrons moving around in a random direction. When potential difference is applied to a conductor by attaching the positive and negative terminals of the battery, the electrons are forced to move towards the oppositely charged terminal of the battery. This occurs because the like charges repel each other while the opposite charges attract each other.

Therefore, the electronic current flows from the negative terminal of the battery to the positive terminal of the battery.
But for practical purposes, we do not consider the direction of flow of electric current. The conventional current is taken to be flowing in the direction opposite to the direction of electric current. The conventional current flows from the positive terminal of the battery to the negative terminal of the battery.
Hence, the given statement is true that the electronic current flows opposite to the conventional current.

Note: The students should note that when no potential difference is applied to the conductor, the electrons move with energy equal to the thermal energy kT. They move in random directions due to which the net current due to the random motion of the electrons is zero.