What is meant by electric current?

         Usually we talk about electricity as current. But are the two same? No!

         Let’s see why. As we have seen earlier, electricity is a form of energy. But electric current, on the other hand, is the movement of electric charge.

         Let’s put it better. It is the flow of charged particles through a medium such as a wire. Similar to water molecules moving down a river, charged particles move down a ‘conductor’ giving electric current. Conductor means anything that allows the movement of electric current for example, metals, and some liquids.

         Electric current is measured using a device called an ammeter. The conventional symbol for current is I.

        The intensity of electric current is measured in terms of ‘ampere’, named after the French scientist Andre-Marie Ampere, one of the founders of classical electromagnetism.