Higher Tier Only: Charge on Electrons and Current
Part of Current & Charge — GCSE Physics
This higher tier covers Higher Tier Only: Charge on Electrons and Current within Current & Charge for GCSE Physics. Revise Current & Charge in Electricity for GCSE Physics with 19 exam-style questions and 30 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 10 of 13 in this topic. This section is most useful once the core foundation idea is secure, because it adds the detail that pushes answers higher.
Topic position
Section 10 of 13
Practice
19 questions
Recall
30 flashcards
🎓 Higher Tier Only: Charge on Electrons and Current
Each electron carries a charge of 1.6 × 10⁻¹⁹ C. This means one coulomb of charge is carried by approximately 6.25 × 10¹⁸ electrons.
You can relate current to the number of electrons passing a point per second:
This also explains why metals conduct better than semiconductors — metals have far more free (delocalised) electrons per unit volume available to carry charge.