Question

The charge of an electron is -1.60x10-19 C. A current of 1 A flows in a wire carried by electrons. How many electrons pass through a cross section of the wire each second?

Answer 1

The number of electrons passing through a cross section of a wire per second with a current of 1 A is calculated by dividing 1 coulomb by the charge of one electron (6.25 × 1018 electrons per second).

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate how many electrons pass through a wire's cross section each second when a current of 1 A flows, the concept of electric current must be understood. Electric current is the rate at which charge flows through a surface.

Since current (I) is charge (q) per unit time (t), and by knowing that 1 A equals 1 coulomb per second (1 C/s), we can calculate the number of electrons passing through a cross section per second by dividing 1 C by the charge of one electron, -1.60 × 10-19 C.

Calculation Procedure

1. 
   
3. Identify the current flowing through the wire, which is 1 A in this case.
4. 
   
6. Recognize that 1 A is equivalent to 1 C/s, meaning one coulomb of charge passes per second.
7. 
   
9. Divide the total charge passed per second by the individual charge of an electron to get the number of electrons. Therefore, the number of electrons passing through is 1 C / -1.60 × 10-19 C/e-, which equals 6.25 × 1018 electrons per second.

The negative sign for the charge of an electron indicates its polarity but does not affect the magnitude of the number of electrons calculated.

Answer 2

Answer:
`6.241* 10^(18)` electrons pass through a cross section of the wire each second.

Step-by-step explanation:

According to mole concept:

1 mole of an atom contains
`6.022* 10^(23)` number of particles.

Given : Charge on 1 electron =
`1.6* 10^(-19)C`

Charge on 1 mole of electrons =
`1.6* 10^(-19)* 6.022* 10^(23)=96500C`

To calculate the charge passed we use the equation:

`I=(q)/(t)`

where,

I = current passed = 1 A

q = total charge = ?

t = time required = 1 sec

Putting values in above equation, we get:

`1A=(q)/(1s)\\\\q=1A* 1s=1C`

When 96500C of electricity is passed , the electrons passed =
`6.022* 10^(23)`

1 C of electricity is passed , the electrons passed =
`(6.022* 10^(23))/(96500)* 1C=6.241* 10^(18)`

Hence,
`6.241* 10^(18)` electrons pass through a cross section of the wire each second.