Talk:Diode

Does anyone know how a diode prevents current from flowing in one direction but permits it in the other?

For the case of a semiconductor-based diode see the discussion of a p-n junction on the semiconductor page. Someone might want to adapt this for the Diode main page. -- Matt Stoker

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Does the use of galena as a detector (referred to in semiconductor devices) predate the vacuum tube rectifier? - David M

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I thought I'd just explain why I changed "current" to "charge". Current doesn't really flow from A to B, but charge does. Just like "water flow rate" doesn't flow anywhere, but the water itself does. --User:Dgrant

Arguable. The current revision "they allow an electric current in one direction" doesn't make sense to me. It seems to be missing a verb. "...current to occur..." sounds better to my ear, but can we just call "current flows" common usage? -- Tim Starling

Yes, you are right. "to occur" or "to exist" would be the purest form in my opinion, but we can leave it the way it is. It's quite interesting I was able to find a fair share of both usages on Google. No doubt "current flowing" is probably more common. --Dave

It was I who changed "charge" back to "current", but in the light of the comments above, I decided that my version was no more or less correct than the previous one. Now, in an effort to please everybody, I have expanded the definition to mention both charge and current.

I think that the question of whether current "flows" or just "is" is merely a question of style. At worst, I think that "current flows" is harmlessly redundant. -- Heron

True. I think I can agree with "harmlessly redundant". I like the first paragraph now, how it uses singular form "diode" and "it" instead of "diodes" and "they".