what direction does a current flow in the current?

Electrons in a circuit travel from the negative terminal to the positive. (Repelled by the - and attracted by the +)
Unfortunately, in the early days when much of the theory of current electricity was formulated (Ohm's Law etc) the electron hadn't been discovered. So when they indicated the direction of current they showed it going from positive to negative. It was a guess. They got it wrong. This is called "conventional" current. So in circuit diagrams you usually show "conventional" current as going from + to -. You also sit back and think, ah yes, but the electrons are actually going the other way. In the long term it doesn't really matter so long as you understand what's going on and why.

so in a circuit, i have to show wrong direction a current flows?

mind has been blown.

thank you for your constant informative replies on these forums.

In most electrical circuits (the sort you do calculations on) you show conventional (positive) current. To say it's "wrong" is to misunderstand. The arrow in the circuit doesn't claim to show the direction of electrons. It's just current. When that current meets a junction and divides, it shows the two currents formed. You can then calculate these two currents. You will still get the right answer, whether or not the current is positive or negative. In fact, the current in some circuits and materials can be positive. A beam of protons or alpha particles is positive current. In an electrolyte, positive ions flow one way and negative ions the other way. In metals it's electrons that flow. You have to choose one direction for current. Positive was chosen many years ago and that's what we use today. You need to keep to this convention because there are many rules which use it. If you have studied Fleming's Left Hand Rule, for example, you will know what I mean. If not you have that pleasure awaiting you.

just to relate this to another concept

http://www.s-cool.co.uk/gcse/physics/magnetism-and-electromagnetism/revise-it/electromagnetism

"If the conventional current flows the other way, the magnetic field will be in the opposite direction. As you move further away from the wire, the magnetic field gets weaker, which is why the lines are drawn further apart.These types of magnets are called electromagnets. They are temporary magnets as they can be turned on and off with the current. Normal bar magnets are permanent magnets because it is very difficult for them to lose their magnetism."

Electrons flowing through a wire produce a magnetic field. electrons flowing through a coiled wire produce a different kind of field.

what i wish to unders.tand is...why does it say, electrons flowing opposite to the convectional current in a wire...produce electro magnets? i don't understand this at all

I think you are "over-thinking" all this.
The theory for electromagnets (the direction of the magnetic field etc) was formulated before the discovery of the electron. It is all based on the idea of conventional current. The diagrams and rules all use this conventional current.
You ask why it says "electrons flowing opposite to the conventional current". Have I not already explained this. Conventional current is defined this way. It's a definition. You will get a magnetic field if protons move through space. Any charge can produce a magnetic field if it moves.
If you connect a battery to a circuit the battery has a positive and a negative terminal. By convention, you show the current flowing from plus to minus.
You can understand the whole of "current electricity" without ever knowing what is actually flowing in the wire. When a current flows in a wire, a magnetic field is created. That's all there is to it. If you want to know the direction (North South etc) of the field you need to know the direction of the conventional current. So if you have connected a battery with a plus and minus terminal, you know which way the conventional current is flowing. You then know the direction of the field.

I think you are "over-thinking" all this.
The theory for electromagnets (the direction of the magnetic field etc) was formulated before the discovery of the electron. It is all based on the idea of conventional current. The diagrams and rules all use this conventional current.
You ask why it says "electrons flowing opposite to the conventional current". Have I not already explained this. Conventional current is defined this way. It's a definition. You will get a magnetic field if protons move through space. Any charge can produce a magnetic field if it moves.
If you connect a battery to a circuit the battery has a positive and a negative terminal. By convention, you show the current flowing from plus to minus.
You can understand the whole of "current electricity" without ever knowing what is actually flowing in the wire. When a current flows in a wire, a magnetic field is created. That's all there is to it. If you want to know the direction (North South etc) of the field you need to know the direction of the conventional current. So if you have connected a battery with a plus and minus terminal, you know which way the conventional current is flowing. You then know the direction of the field.

ahh , yes i understand.

a current flows through a wire = magnetic field forms.

however, if i wanted to know what direction the current is going in...do i use the convectional current, or the actual direction currents go in (negative to positive?)

Since we are on the topic of electricity can you help me with some thing?

We where doing capacitors and circuits. We made a circuit with a resistor, power supply of 6v, capacitor of 1micro Farad(or 1 Farad can't remember) so anyway when we did the experiment my physics teacher said the current decreases due to the resistor in the circuit causing the (current reading being measured from the capacitor to lower down quickly over a certain time) then the voltage started from 0 and began to increase until it reached 6v? Why does the voltage increase? Is this to do with the ohms law equations R=V/I ? Also i dont understand why the capacitor reading goes to zero when you "discharge" it? Is this because all the free electrons are transferred somewhere else?

Thanks

If you want to know the direction of a magnetic field caused by a current you have to use conventional current.

This needs to be in its own thread. I've started a new one for you.

ty

so say we drew a curcuit diagram, and in this diagram we had a LED, light emitting diode, only allowing electrons or current to flow through it in one way.

we would show it going from positive - negative ?

so if the diode faced the positive, the curcuit could not work, as current is only allowed to flow ONE way across it a LED

that's why i keep asking=p

ty

In a circuit, the symbol for a diode shows the direction of the conventional current that can flow through it. It points in the direction of the conventional current. As I said before, circuit diagrams and circuit theory use conventional current.

for a BMAT question, they purposefully showed two diagrams, one with a diode in the direction of the convectional current, the other with the diode against.

so in a curcuit, the current flows from positive to negative.

i.e the larger side of the battery symbol to the smaller

or, in other terms, from left to right.

ty

ahh , yes i understand.

a current flows through a wire = magnetic field forms.

however, if i wanted to know what direction the current is going in...do i use the convectional current, or the actual direction currents go in (negative to positive?)