Electric Current

Electric Current is the net displacement (flow or motion) of current carriers

(electrons or holes) through a cross – sectional area of a conductor such as
copper wire.

The symbol for the magnitude of the current is I or I, from the French word
“intensite.”

Any piece of conducting metal has a large number of free electrons that
move continuously at random, with a net zero displacement in any direction.
Only when an external force acts on the current carriers, as would be the
case if an external energy source (e.g. battery) is connected to the
conductor, will the current carriers be forced to move mainly in one
direction.

The electrons are

attracted to the positive
terminal of the source,
which acts as a pump,
transporting them back
(through chemical
reaction) toward the
negative terminal of this
source, again to continue
their drift along the
conductor. This
constitutes the
continuous motion of the
charge described as
electric current. The
motion of current
carriers in a wire
resembles the flow of
water molecules in a
pipe or a stream. Motion
is always a displacement
with respect to time.

In short, Current is the rate of flow of charge.

The word rate refers to variation with respect to time. This implies, if a
certain amount of charge Q did flow through a cross section of a conductor in
a time t, then the smaller t is, the faster is the motion (i.e. the higher must
be the current).