The electron drift speed in a 2.00-mm-diameter gold wire is 5.50 × 10−5 m/s.

Question

How long does it take 1 mole of electrons to flow through a cross section of the wire?

Answer 1

Step 1:

The electron drift speed is .

The diameter of the gold wire is .

Therefore, radius of the gold wire is .

The electron current through the wire is .

where, is the number of free electrons per unit volume.

           is the area of the gold wire.

           is the Drift velocity.

The number of free electrons in gold wire is per unit volume.

Electron current through the wire is .

Step 2:

The time for 1 mole to pass through a cross section of wire is .

is the Avagadro's number .

Convert seconds into days.

The time for 1 mole to pass through a cross section of wire is .

Solution:

The time for 1 mole to pass through a cross section of wire is .