Question

We are able to obtain fairly large currents in a conductor because ________.

Options

• the electron drift speed is usually very large.
• the number density of free electrons is very high and this can compensate for the low values of the electron drift speed and the very small magnitude of the electron charge.
• the number density of free electrons as well as the electron drift speeds are very large and these compensate for the very small magnitude of the electron charge.
• the very small magnitude of the electron charge has to be divided by the still smaller product of the number density and drift speed to get the electric current.

Answer 1

We are able to obtain fairly large currents in a conductor because the number density of free electrons is very high and this can compensate for the low values of the electron drift speed and the very small magnitude of the electron charge.