2/15/2017 Whatistherelationbetweenelectricfieldanddriftvelocity?

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ElectricFieldislikegravitationalfield.Driftvelocityisliketheterminalvelocity.Terminalvelocityis
thehighestvelocityattainablebyanobjectasitfallsthroughair.Itoccursoncethesumofthedragforce
(F)andbuoyancyequalsthedownwardforceofgravity(F)actingontheobject.Sincethenetforceon
theobjectiszero,theobjecthaszeroacceleration.

Thefrictioninmechanicalworldthatdissipatestheenergyasheatisanalogoustothefrictionor
resistanceintheelectricalworld.Whenchargesmovethroughmaterials,theresistancesofferedbythe
latticestructurecausesanoppositionforcedefinedbytheohmslaw.Thevoltageortheoppositionforce
toamovingchargeisproportionaltoitsvelocity(velocityofachargeiscurrentorcurrentdensity).Infact
therelationbetweenterminalvelocityandElectricfielditselfisohm'slawputinadifferentway.

YoucanlookupformathematicalrelationinDriftvelocity.

Theconductivitytermintherelationistheonewhichstatesthematerialproperty.i.e.theresistance
materialunderconsideration.
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PrateekSharma,Physicist|Educator
WrittenJan9

Hi,thanksfortheA2A

Driftvelocityistheaveragevelocityofelectronsflowinginsideaconductorundertheinfluenceofan
electricfield,whichisresponsibleforthepotentialdifferencealongthelengthoftheconductor.

Therelationbetweenelectricfieldandpotentialisgivenbyfollowingrelation:

E=dV/dRorsimplyE=V/L

Theelectricpotentialchangesalongthedistanceinanelectricfield.

Soinaconductorwithapotentialdifferencebetweenit'sends,theelectronsflowundertheinfluenceof
thiselectricfield.Andtheelectricforceisresponsiblefortheaccelerationofelectronsandgivethenadrift
velocity.

Theequationsinvolvedare

Driftvelocity=(accelerationoftheelectrons)*time

Rememberthisisaveragevelocityofelectronsandtheaverageinitialvelocityiszero.

Acceleration=(charge*electricfield)/mass

Nowithinkyoucanfigureoutthelastrelation.

Sodriftvelocityisdirectlyproportionaltotheelectricfieldanditincreases/decreaseswhenelectricfield
increases/decreases.

https://www.quora.com/Whatistherelationbetweenelectricfieldanddriftvelocity 1/2
2/15/2017 Whatistherelationbetweenelectricfieldanddriftvelocity?Quora

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RohanAnanthaKrishna,Timetravelbackwardsisn'tpossibleevenifyougo
fasterthanlight.PERIOD!
WrittenJan18,2016

A2A

Electricfieldiswhatensuresthattheelectronmovesalongtheconductor,sothisimplies

E = m
q a E=mqa

Also,weknowthattheelectronexperiencescontinuousaccelerationalongtheconductor(sincethe
voltageincreaseslinearlyalongthelineoftheconductor),

so a = vd a=vdwhere istakentheaveragetimeconstantforwhichtheelectronmovesbefore
beinghitbyarigidobject(themetalparticles)

So,substitutiongives E = q
m
vd E=mqvd

Thisshowsthatthedriftvelocityiseitherinthedirectionparallelorantiparalleltothedirectionofthe
electricfield,increaseswithincreaseofchargeandelectricfieldbutdecreaseswiththeincreaseinthe
massoftheparticle.

https://www.quora.com/Whatistherelationbetweenelectricfieldanddriftvelocity 2/2