You can also think of it like water in a filled tube. If you pump more water into one end the person on the other end will get your signal long before the physical water you put in to create the signal reaches him. You could put a water wheel or propeller in the tube to convert the energy of the moving water into work, and just like the lamp you don't have to wait until the physical molecules of water you pumped in reaches the wheel to start using energy from the moving water.
This made it click for me, thanks!
On electronics.stackexchange we battle this misconception a lot, e.g. https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/245610/is-vo...
For almost all practical purposes you should ignore electrons when doing electronics. They're only relevant in detailed theoretical analysis of semiconductors, or (as per article) in vacuum tubes and related items (VFD displays, CRTs).
>In metals, electric current is a flow of electrons. Many books claim that these electrons flow at the speed of light. This is incorrect. Electrons in an electric current actually flow quite slowly; at speeds on the order of centimeters per minute. And in AC circuits the electrons don't really "flow" much at all, instead they sit in place and vibrate. It's the energy in the circuit which flows fast, not the electrons.
> Metals are always full of movable electrons. In a simple circuit, all of the wires are totally packed full of electrons all the time. And when a battery or generator pumps the electrons at one point in the circuit, electrons in the entire loop of the circuit are forced to flow, and energy spreads almost instantly throughout the entire circuit. This happens even though the electrons move very slowly.
One way to think about it is as a newton's cradle sorta deal. It's not perfect, but fairly close. Also maybe flicking a jump rope - energy propagates, but the bits of rope don't move from beginning to end.
Flicking a jump rope sounds more akin to AC to me, though. Maybe, pulsed DC?
What about a train or bumper car analogy (not joking)?
I would really like to see this as a visualization.
Bulk material moves slower than forces move... usually. The physics of shock waves and supersonic stuff is interesting.
It astonishes me that much energy can be transmitted / work can be done, with so little actual movement of electrons... I'll follow the links / articles suggested and see what I can gleam; thanks all! :)
Also astonishing is to calculate the weight, or mass, of the electrons participating in a lightning discharge. So little mass, so much energy.
On the other hand, electric fields move quickly. At some large proportion of the speed of light depending on the particular materials of the wire and some other factors.