Current and potential difference: changes in relation to a resistor (1 Viewer)

[Derailed]

I have been told the following: the same current entering a resistor leaves it; so if 1 electron per second of current was coming in, then it would come out at exactly the same rate; electrons do not get "used up" inside a resistor, nor do they slow down. A resistor reduces potential difference. Potential difference is defined as the difference in the number of electrons between two points - a kind of "electrical pressure" which induces current to flow as there is always a tendency to equalize the "pressure".

Being told the things above I wonder, if all that is true: then what exactly happens inside a resistor? How is potential difference reduced exactly? If the same number of electrons coming in are coming out, wouldn't current still have the tendency to flow in order to equalize the "electrical pressure"?

I would appreciate any help in shedding light on this issue (are my premises wrong? am I missing something?).

Thanks.

 

[helper]

Current is the amount of charge passing per second. Yes it stays the same as it passes through a resistor.

Voltage or Potential difference is the amount of energy per unit charge. It does not change the number of electrons.

So when an electron goes through a resistor, its energy level drops.

 

[Derailed]

Yes, but what are the fundamental processes that invoke the energy drop (the drop in voltage)? What is exactly happening inside the resistor, what are the electrons doing to lose energy? Could somebody please explain this in terms of potential difference.

 

[rama_v]

Yes, but what are the fundamental processes that invoke the energy drop (the drop in voltage)? What is exactly happening inside the resistor, what are the electrons doing to lose energy? Could somebody please explain this in terms of potential difference.

Electrons are trasnferring their energy to the metal atoms in the resistor which therefore experience an increase in kinteic energy, which we measure as heat.