Charge is a fundamental property of an object, and used, well, everywhere.
Charge Carriers
In a hypothetical mathematical mode, how the charge moves is not as important, just the rate. But in the real world, our movement of charge is heavily dependant on the charge carriers, which are particles that hold some charge, and ‘carry’ it along paths.
Charge Conductivity is also a result of the nature of the charge carriers, which depend on the chemical structure of the material. Here’s a simple table to remember them:
| Material | Charge Carrier |
|---|---|
| Metals | Free-moving valence electrons |
| Non-metals* | Tightly held-in-place electrons |
| Electrolytes#todo | Ions (Cations & Anions) |
| Plasma | Electrons and Cations (+Ions) |
| Semiconductors | Electrons and holes |
*Certain non-metals such as graphite behave like metals in terms of conductivity Holes are absences of electrons