Title: drift velocity
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - drift velocity
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.08794
Status: current

Definition
Average velocity that a charge carrier attains due to an applied electric field.

Notes
1) If an electric field is absent, charge carriers move randomly. An applied electric field induces drift (net movement) of charge carriers in a preferred direction. Average net velocity of this movement is called the drift velocity \(v_{\rm{d}}\).
2) The drift velocity of a charge carrier is directly proportional to the applied electric field strength \(E\):  \[v_{\rm{d}} = \mu E\]  where constant \(\mu\) is the charge carrier mobility in the given material.

Related Terms
- charge carrier: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08775
- charge carrier mobility: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08780

Source
- PAC, 2022, 94, 15. 'Glossary of terms relating to electronic, photonic and magnetic properties of polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2021)' on page 25 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2020-0501)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08794/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08794/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08794/xml

Citation: Citation: 'drift velocity' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.08794
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Accessed: 2026-04-18T08:32:15+00:00