Electrical Energy Electrical energy is composed of electromagnetic fields which do not travel along with individual electrons. Even though the electrons do not move very quickly, the electromagnetic energy moves very fast on the outside of the conductor. Copyright 1991, The National Academy of Sciences. Reproduced with permission from Electric Circuits , National Sciences Research Center. In a simple circuit involving a battery, two wires and a light bulb, the charges vibrate in the wire, the negative electrons move in one direction while the positive metallic core moves simultaneously in the other direction.
Electromagnetic energy is defined as the energy emitted from vibrating charges inside the circuit.
The heat is defined as the energy produced by vibrating masses of charges. Since both the electrons in the outer edge of atoms and the vibrating core of the wire have mass and charge, their vibrations cause both heat and electromagnetic energy. Conductor A conductor is any material that contains movable electric charges. In a pure copper wire, the geometry of the positive and negative charges is such that most of the electromagnetic energy is caused by the freely moving electrons. Although some heat is produced, the copper wire conducts the electricity with little or no resistance.