I was going over my notes for an introductory course to electricity and magnetism and was intrigued by something I don't have an answer to. I remember my professor mentioning, to the best I can remember, that electric current is actually not the flow of electrons but the propagation of the electric field. My question is, how does the field "know" in which direction to travel, or even what to travel along? The electrons just move from atom to atom as they feel a force due to the potential difference (if I have it right). But what about the field? Thanks to all in advance.
Answer
You're right. The field will indeed extend outside the electric conductor as well. However, since there are very few electrons affected outside the conductor, the field strength will quickly drop outside the conductor. However, inside the conductor, where the field does move many additional electrons, those movements will contribute to the field strength.
The field strength is not directly related to its speed, though.
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