Re: Velocity of Electrons

This is quite an interesting question. I wish someone had responded to
it before I did, since I'm not quite the authority on the subject.
Nevertheless seing no response so far, I'm jumping in.

I don't know what the properties of mercury are, so for the purposes of
my answer I'll assume it's a well conductive fluid that isn't magnetic
by itself. I think you used mercury with those assumptions apart from
any other property it may have.

If those asumptions are true and that flowing mercury by itself
(without a current involved) doesn't cause a magnetic field (I don't
see any reason as to why it should, but then again electo-magnetics
hasn't been my strong side), then the magnetic field should only depend
on the current passing through the mercury.

By the current passing thru the mercury I mean as observed by someone
outside the glass tube, not by someone who's flowing past with the
mercury.

Now the question remains as to how this current changes as we change
the flow of the mercury. I doubt that you can cause the current to go
backwards by increasing the flow, after all electrons don't travel by
jumping from atom to atom. The general description of metallic bonds
says "positively charged ions (these are the atoms of the metal) in a
sea of electrons".

The electrons are moving because the battery (or whatever power source
you're using) is applying a potential difference to the ends of the
tube, and this potential difference is creating an electric field which
is accelerating the electrons. That electric field should be the same
regardless of whether the mercury is flowing or not, so my guess is
that the current stays the same regardless of the flow, although I'm
not 100% sure. Having the same current would mean having the same
magnetic field.

Another point occured to me while I was writing all this. If we're
considering electrons as seperate from the ions of the fluid, then we
might want to think about the implications of having these ions flow
backwards, they're charged particles (without the electrons), and
they'd be supporting the the magnetic field created by the current
(backwards flow + the fact they're the opposite charge means they
support instead of oppose).

I hope this helps somewhat, or better yet someone comes and gives a
better answer.

Aydin

.

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