What direction does electron current flow in an electric circuit?

Electron current flows from the negative terminal to the positive terminal in an electric circuit. This is due to the fact that electrons carry a negative charge, and they are repelled by the negative terminal and attracted to the positive terminal. In a standard circuit, this movement of negatively charged electrons constitutes the flow of electron current, which runs in the opposite direction from the conventional current, which is defined as the flow of positive charge from positive to negative.

Understanding this distinction helps clarify how electrical circuits operate, as it shows the behavior of charge carriers in relation to the components they interact with. The direction of coinventional current flow, often used historically for circuit diagrams, follows from positive to negative and can sometimes lead to confusion if one assumes that it represents actual electron movement.