A circuit has one battery, one switch, and one motor in a loop. The switch is opened. Where does the current stop?
A battery's two terminals are marked + and −. The current flows one way around the loop. So when you draw a circuit, which way should the arrow point?
Everyone who draws circuits has agreed on one answer, and every diagram in this topic uses it.
With the loop complete, one current flows one way around the whole loop.
The agreed convention: outside the source, the current is drawn flowing from the + terminal, around the loop, to the − terminal.
Current drawn in this agreed direction is called conventional current.
So on a battery-and-bulb diagram, the current arrow points from +, through the bulb, to −.
Inside the battery, the charge is driven from − back to +, which completes the loop.
A battery drives a current through a motor. Which way is the conventional current drawn outside the battery?
One wrong picture is worth naming: current does not pour out of both terminals and clash in the bulb.
The current is one flow, moving one way around the whole loop: out at +, through the bulb, in at −.
A battery drives a current through a small heater. Following the convention, which way is the current arrow drawn outside the battery?
Write down the convention:
Outside the source, conventional current is drawn from the + terminal to the − terminal.
Apply it:
The arrow runs from +, through the heater, to −.
The arrow is drawn from the + terminal, through the heater, to the − terminal.
Which statement follows the convention for drawing current?
On a circuit diagram, a current arrow beside the wire points toward the battery's − terminal. Is the arrow drawn correctly?
Write down the convention:
Conventional current is drawn out of the + terminal and back into the − terminal.
Read the arrow:
An arrow pointing into the − terminal is the returning end of that one flow.
Yes: the arrow is correct. The drawn current returns into the − terminal.
Tyler draws two current arrows leaving both battery terminals and meeting at the bulb. His drawing is wrong. What is the correct picture?
A camping lantern's circuit — a battery and its bulb — is drawn following convention. Where does the drawn current leave the battery, and where does it re-enter?
Which drawing follows the conventional-current rule?
A battery-and-buzzer loop is drawn correctly. The current arrow next to the − terminal points which way?