If a wire is at +120V does it have more electrons or fewer than a wire of equal size at ground?
+120V
Jun 05, 2006
2 Replies
Actually, if the wires were otherwise identical, it would have fewer electrons but only by a small fraction compared to the total number of electrons. The deficit would be on the surface. These would correspond to the charge required to bring the potential on the wire up to +120V. The capacitance of a wire about a meter long is typically about 50pF within a factor of 10. The charge will be about 6nC. This is about 37 billion electrons.
Now that you know this worse than useless information--what next?
Bill
-- Ferme le Bush
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