[Amps] Zener Screen Regulators

[Manfred Mornhinweg]

In this particular matter about the true direction of current flow, I 
agree with Bill, for a change... While it is understandable that back in 
the dark ages it was defined the wrong way, because people simply didn't 
know a lot about electricity, it's stupid that this mistake is still 
being taught.

In an abstract way, I have no trouble at all to imagine current as a 
flow of charges, and I'm comfortable with analyzing circuits using 
either "conventional" or true sense of current flow. But I see no point 
in using the "conventional" sense. Specially when it comes pretty 
physical, almost mechanical things, like the operation principles of 
vacuum tubes.

In semiconductors it's easy to work with electrons and "holes" as 
equivalent but opposite charge carriers, but the truth (according to 
present day knowledge of physics!) is that ONLY the electrons actually 
move around any charges. A hole moving is nothing else than an electron 
moving in the opposite direction. And in tubes there are no such 
"holes", and any electronics teacher would have a pretty hard time 
teaching their internal operation based on conventional flow sense of 
current. When it comes to cathode ray tubes, we are at the summit of 
stupidity if we try to explain them with current flow from positive to 
negative!

Years ago I started writing a book about electronics, in a practical 
way. I never quite finished it. But in that book I mention 
"conventional" flow sense of current only as a historic curiosity and a 
proof of Murphy's Laws when guessing something without knowing it! All 
explanations how things work are based on actual flow of electrons, even 
in P-type semiconductors.

After all, this is electronics, not holonics nor positronics.

Manfred


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