How does current work

Question

In all diagrams i have ever seen of circuits it's implied that electrons travel through load/bulb and bulb makes light/heat.

Now there is a problem here...because of this implied logic i assumed more electrons that follow more power and therefore after power is used in light their speed reduces. But that doesn't make sense what's happening with clogged up electrons.

-coming electron and leaving electron both are the same. I assumed, that unused electron somehow was bigger and puffed and when it gets used its small/slow/ or less charged..But it's none of the above. It's actually the same...So i learned energy is carried via waves that travels through electrons.

Now i don't know what is current or electricity. If used and unused electron both are the same what provided the energy.

please explain how number of electrons, speed of electrons, wave(?) of Energy, and all other stuff fits into how electricity works.

Answer 1

It's easy to think of it in terms of something maybe more familiar - flow of fluid in pipes.

Suppose you have a closed loop of pipes. In one part of the closed loop is a pump. In another is something like a hydraulic motor, that converts moving fluid into mechanical work.

The pump is like a battery. The hydraulic motor is like an electric motor. (A light bulb is not much different from a motor - it just converts electrical work into heat, rather than mechanical work.)

So the wire loop is just like a pipe loop, and the electrons in the wires are just like the fluid molecules in the pipes, and they flow the same way. (Pipes can leak if they have holes, but wires don't (at low voltage), because the electrons in the wire are "attached to" the metal and can't easily take off on their own.) (I'm simplifying here.)

The amount of them that flow past a point in one second is called "current". The pressure is called "voltage". The work done in the hydraulic or electric motor in one second is just the current times the pressure-drop or voltage-drop across it.