• Question: How fast can electricity travel?

    Asked by Charlie to Arthur, Clare, Daniel, David, Tora on 18 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Clare Harding

      Clare Harding answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      That is a really great question!

      Individual electrons travel quite slowly (a few mm per second) but the electric change in a wire can travel at 1/100 the speed of light (that’s pretty fast).

      I see it like a big pot of jelly, it would take a long time to go from one side of the jelly to the other but if you poke it, because the jelly is so packed together, it all wobbles at almost the same time.

      Is that helpful at all?

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