Re: Current in a wire

[John Denker <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

At 03:44 PM 3/22/00 -0600, John P Lewis wrote:
> My belief is that if a wire were connected to some sort of emf current
> should flow throughout the entire wire.  I have a colleague in electronics
> who maintains that the charge travels only on the exterior surface of the
> conductor.

At DC it travels throughout the area of the wire.  (Current goes one way,
electrons go the other way.)

At high frequencies, it travels only near the surface.  Reason:  the
current is deflected by its own magnetic field.  You can read about "skin
depth" in typical solid-state physics books and E&M books.