Signal Jumping??


Does the signal really jump from strand to strand in a multi-stranded wire, or does it remain in each one simultaneously?
koestner
For DC current or low frequency current, then "no", but I wouldn’t use the word "jump". It’s a little bit complicated than that. These strands of wire are shorted together, so if there is current on one strand, then there will be current on other strands as well.

For high frequency current, when two strand of wire touching each other, there will be some small air gaps in between them. These air gap form a equivalent capacitance coupling, so there might be some small portion of the current that "jumps" through these air gaps.

Again, it’s difficult to describe using everyday language to characterize electrical current.
As I recall, the electric field moves much faster than the electrons, so while electrons are free to move about the strands, as if it were water in a tube, the field is very much shared, and the electrons are free to move about from strand to strand.
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Whilst "jumping" between strands does occur, it takes more energy to do so, so electrons have a tendency to take the easy route and stay within a single strand in low power situations, i.e. until such a time that the signal is so strong that all the "free spots" into which electrons can jump within their strand are filled and it is no longer possible to move within a single strand because all available spots are filled, at which time electrons will be attracted to, "or jump" to available locations in another strand

Consider the each strand will have valence electrons freely moving around in them creating free spots, such that IF the strands are too thin to "accommodate" the amount of energy being transferred, then electrons in each strand will try to transfer to another strand - the "jumping" then causes the wire will heat up, which introduces noise into the signal

Having said all of that - in the audio world the signal is AC and as such the electrons just tend to "shuffle around" and does not "travel" in any given direction

Whereas in DC circuits, the electrons do flow in one direction, but very slowly, whereas the flow of energy is "instantaneous", i.e. almost the speed of light

How fast does electricity flow? - BBC Science Focus Magazine

Regards
You can dismiss it as metaphysics if you want koestner, but the fact of the matter is the signal is as much the field as the particle. Duality is a fundamental feature of our world. Light is a particle or a wave depending on how we choose to detect or measure it. A certain fellow even became famous for his theory equating matter with energy.

Williewonka has a pretty good handle on it.
MC:  The signal is not what we think it is. The signal is not the signal. The signal is the cosmos. Doing its thing. The signal is us. The signal is all.

Really, you don't consider this quote from you as some form of Metaphysics BS? While particle/wave duality is a real thing, I'm not so sure about your Cosmos theory.