Electricity is the flow of ______.

• A. Electrons
• B. Protons
• C. Photons
• D. Neutrons

Answer: (A)

Electric current is the flow of charged particles, and in most circuits that means electrons moving through a conductor. In metals, electrons are loosely bound and drift when a voltage is applied, creating current. Protons are bound in atomic nuclei and don’t move through the wire under normal conditions, so they don’t carry the current. Neutrons are electrically neutral and don’t contribute to charge transport. Photons carry energy, not electrical charge, so they aren’t the flow of electricity in a circuit. Also, while conventional current is defined as the direction positive charges would move, the actual carriers in a metal are electrons moving in the opposite direction.