Interactive exhibit · fields & charge

Inside the Flow of Electricity

Explore how electrons drift, how fields propagate, and how energy moves through a conductor, in one interactive visualization with four ways to look inside.

Scale, speed, and brightness are exaggerated for clarity. Electron drift is far slower, and fields far faster, than shown.

Electrons Electric field Magnetic field Energy transfer Radiation

Simulation controls

CurrentMedium

LowMediumHigh

VoltageMedium

LowMediumHigh

Medium current drives a steady drift; medium voltage sets a clear field and a more pronounced energy pulse.

The key idea

Why does a lamp light up instantly?

The electrons barely crawl, but the energy, carried by the field, races across the wire and lights the load the moment you connect it.

Electrons - slow drift Energy pulse - near light-speed Load - lights the instant it arrives

Four views, one wire

Look inside, four different ways

Switch modes from the panel on the simulation. Each view reframes the same physics, from a textbook cross-section to a quark-level zoom.

Mode 01

Cross-section

A side cut, electrons drift one way, the field the other.

Driven by Current · Voltage

Mode 02

AC signal

Electrons oscillate in place; the field reverses and radiates.

Driven by Frequency · Current

Mode 03

Fly-through

Fly down the wire as the copper lattice streams past you.

Driven by Voltage · Current

Mode 04

Inside matter

Zoom from wire to atom to the quarks inside a proton.

Driven by Current

The physics

What is actually happening

Five layers the simulation reveals, each shown live, then said in a line.

What moves

Free electrons drift slowly through the lattice, their collective motion is the current.

Electric field

Voltage sets up a field that pushes electrons into a net drift along the wire.

Magnetic field

A current wraps a magnetic field around the conductor, more current, stronger field.

Energy transfer

Energy travels in the field around the wire, far faster than electrons drift.

Radiation

Steady current barely radiates; rapidly changing fields shed EM waves.

Cause and effect

From voltage to energy, step by step

The chain that turns a potential difference into delivered power, and where radiation does, and does not, enter the picture.

Voltage applied

A potential difference is placed across the conductor.

Electric field

The voltage sets up a field inside the wire, end to end.

Electrons drift

The field nudges electrons into slow net motion against it.

Magnetic field

The resulting current wraps a magnetic field around the wire.

Energy transfer

Energy flows in the field around the conductor, fast.

Radiation

Only rapidly changing fields shed electromagnetic waves.

DC vs AC

Two ways current can flow

The same electrons and fields, driven two different ways, watch the drift versus the oscillation.

Direct current

DC · steady drift

Net drift one waySteady fieldsBatteries · USB · solar

Alternating current

AC · oscillating

Net drift ≈ zeroFields reverseMains · radio · wireless

Common questions

The physics of current, answered

Their net drift is remarkably slow, typically a fraction of a millimetre per second in household wiring. They also have fast random thermal motion, but that averages out; only the gentle drift carries current.

Because the electric field and the energy it guides propagate through the circuit at a large fraction of the speed of light. The field reaches every electron almost at once, so they all start drifting together, you never wait for one electron to travel from the switch.

Conventional current is defined as the flow of positive charge, so it points one way. In a metal the actual carriers are electrons, which drift the opposite way. The simulation labels both so the distinction is visible.

A steady DC current radiates almost nothing. Meaningful electromagnetic radiation appears when the current changes rapidly, switching, sharp edges, or high-frequency AC, which is exactly how antennas are made to work.

The energy travels in the electromagnetic field around and within the conductor, not inside the electrons themselves. The wire and its field guide that energy from source to load.

No. Particle size, drift speed, field intensity, and brightness are all exaggerated for clarity. Real atoms are mostly empty space and real drift is far slower than anything you can watch.

See the invisible layers of electricity

Drive the current, change the voltage, switch to AC, or fly down the wire, the physics responds in real time.

Open the simulation →Back to ElectronTrail