In a good conductor such as say copper, there are plenty of available free electrones orbiting in outer shells just sittin there waitin to be knocked out of orbit and moved to the orbit of the next atom. Such a flow of electrons is called current and is measured in coulombs per second.
So to answer your question, electrons flow from the shell of one atom to another provided the atoms have readily available free electrons ready to be moved and pushed around. If none such exist and theres no free electrons its a poor conductor such as say glass or plastic etc
Now, (This blows some peoples minds) electrons are NEGATIVLEY charged particles and while they flow in one direction (from a lower to a higher charge state, - to +, similar to Opposites attract, Likes repel), the empty spaces or holes left behind necessarily flow in the opposite direction. Thus theres electron current and theres hole current. Electrons flow one way and the holes left behind cuz an electron was knocked out of its orbit flow the opposite way.
At Purdue University in the sixties we called it CONVENTIONAL CURRENT which flowed from the + of the battery towards the - while at the same time in order for that to happen ELECTRON CURRENT '''''''INSIDE '''''''' THE BATTERY HAD TO FLOW FROM - TO +. That made perfect sense as far as electrons and "electron current" is considered inside the battery because an electron, being a NEGATIVELY charged particle, would naturally flow away from the LIKE - post towards the OPPOSITE + post.
And then theres the whole field theory and quantum mechanics and Maxwells Equations stuff which really blew even an engineers mind lol so Im stopping with the above which I hope helps you NOTE This was over 40 years when I learned all this and Ive slept since SO NO WARRANTY LOL
As far as current flow on the outer versus inner surfaces of wire.........Youre thinking of whats called the "skin affect" but thats only relevant AT HIGH FREQUENCY NOT DC so at DC in a cross section of wire current flow would be the same. As far as stranded versus solid, if theres no HF skin affect going on the net cross sectional area is all that mattersd, if theres more = more current capacity REGARDLESS if the sum of a big fat wire or a bunch of small stranded wires CROSS SECTIONAL AREA
HOWEVER multi strand wire is much more flex resistance and pliable and Id sure want it for welding cable then big fat single wire wouldnt you?? But regardless then net sum corss sectional area being more means more current
Anyway thats the best I recall from Purdues Electrical Engineering profeessors wayyyyyyyyyy back in the sixties, maybe physics has changed since then????????????
John T BSEE but that was a longggggggg timeeeeeeee agoooooooooo lol
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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