How many electrons in 1 Amp electric current

To determine the number of electrons needed to produce 1 ampere (A) of electric current, we can use the concept of elementary charge and the definition of the ampere.

The elementary charge (e) is the charge of a single electron or proton, which is approximately 1.602x10^-19 coulombs.

The definition of 1 ampere (A) is 1 coulomb of electric charge passing through a point in a circuit per second.

So, to find the number of electrons needed to produce 1 ampere of electric current, we can use the equation:

$\mathrm{Number\; of\; electrons} = \frac{\mathrm{Total\; charge}}{\mathrm{Charge\; of\; a\; single\; electron}}$

Given that 1 ampere is equivalent to 1 coulomb per second, and the charge of a single electron is approximately 1.602x10^-19 coulombs, we have:

$\mathrm{Number\; of\; electrons} = \frac{\mathrm{1\; coulomb/s}}{{\mathrm{1.602\times 10}}^{-19}\mathrm{C/electron}}$

Calculating this gives:

$Number of electrons \approx \frac{1 }{1.602\times {10 }^{-19}}\approx 6.242\times {10}^{18}$

So, approximately 6.242x10¹⁸ electrons moving past a point in a circuit each second would constitute a current of 1 ampere.

Convert coulomb per second to ampere