Electrical theory question...
Let's take as an example 50AMP RV service. A voltmeter between the two hots shows 240 volts, between one leg (or the other) and neutral shows 120 volts. My question concerns what happens when each...
Forum Discussion
In 1960-1961 at The Navy's Electronics Technician School we were taught 'electron flow' - the curriculum was vacuum tube based with only a brief discussion of transistors. 1961-1965 At the Naval Academy in Annapolis it was "hole flow' - the emphasis was entirely on transistors - no vacuum tubes.
1973-1976 at MIT in Cambridge, MA, it was absolutely 100% 'hole flow' - without so much as a mention of vacuum tubes.
So which is it, electron flow from left to right OR hole flow from right to left? Actually, either one is correct.
The two approaches present no contradictions - a hole is simply the absence of an electron - ie one electron enters stage left and one exits stage right. When the electron left the stage on the right, we think of that being the same as a hole entering from the right. The logic on stage left is that when the electron came on stage it left behind a hole off stage.
For Geezers like me the transition from electron flow to hole flow caused some heartache in applying thumb rules. Example: I got some strange looks when I used my electron flow based Right Hand Rule to hole flow - it became the Left Hand Rule with the Thumb Bent.
1973-1976 at MIT in Cambridge, MA, it was absolutely 100% 'hole flow' - without so much as a mention of vacuum tubes.
So which is it, electron flow from left to right OR hole flow from right to left? Actually, either one is correct.
The two approaches present no contradictions - a hole is simply the absence of an electron - ie one electron enters stage left and one exits stage right. When the electron left the stage on the right, we think of that being the same as a hole entering from the right. The logic on stage left is that when the electron came on stage it left behind a hole off stage.
For Geezers like me the transition from electron flow to hole flow caused some heartache in applying thumb rules. Example: I got some strange looks when I used my electron flow based Right Hand Rule to hole flow - it became the Left Hand Rule with the Thumb Bent.
