Final answer:
Electrons in a current-carrying wire have a drift speed that is very slow, typically around 10^-4 m/s, which contrasts with the much faster signal speed of up to 108 m/s.
Step-by-step explanation:
The drift speed of electrons in a current-carrying wire is not as one might intuitively expect. Despite electrical signals traveling through wires at speeds up to 108 m/s, the individual electrons themselves move quite slowly due to their zig-zag motion caused by collisions with other particles within the conductor. As a result, the average drift speed of electrons is only on the order of 10^-4 m/s, which is substantially slower than the signal speed.
Furthermore, it's worth noting that the actual speed of individual electrons might be faster than their drift velocity, but due to the random nature of their collisions and movement, the overall drift velocity remains much slower than the speed of the signal they carry.
To directly answer the student's question, the electrons in a current-carrying wire move with a drift speed that is very slow, which contrasts with the rapid speed at which the signal they contribute to propagates through the wire.