Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store

What energy is produced by the movement of electrons?

seo-qna
SearchIcon
Answer
VerifiedVerified
385.5k+ views
Hint: Electrons are the negatively charged subatomic species. Electrons are present in orbits around a nucleus in the atom. Electrons have a charge of $-1.602\times {{10}^{-19}}$coulombs, which can be rounded to -1. Electricity is the phenomena which involves free electrons.

Complete answer:
Electrons are the species that carry a negative charge, meaning their movement can generate some sort of energy. The free electrons which are not paired are able to move, and are mobile. The movement of these electrons leads to the generation of electrical energy, which we call electricity. Electric current consists of a stream of moving electrons. These electrons are able to move due to conduction, since they carry a negative charge, they are able to move towards the positive end hence creating electricity.
While, the electrons which do not move, carry some potential energy as they carry a charge of -1. However, moving electrons also carry this amount of charge, the difference is just that they are able to transfer this charge while moving, creating an electric current which gives rise to electrical energy.
Hence, the movement of electrons produces electrical energy which results in generating electricity.

Note:
The movement of electrons is due to their unpaired nature. Metals which are said to be good conductors of electricity are due to this reason, as they contain free electrons in their outer shell which moves and they are able to conduct electricity. That is why copper wires are used in circuits. Potential energy is the energy of any substance when it is at rest, apart from potential energy, electrons also possess kinetic energy due to their movement.