Interconnect Directionality

This below is almost too stupid to answer. How long does it take from the time you open the tap to the time the water comes out? ... If in your house, pretty much instant because the pipes are already full.

"If it was the electrons that carried the signal how long would it take from the time a needle was dropped in the groove of a record to the time you would hear the first note from the speakers?"

If you are going to be pedantic so will I:

1) The energy in the EM wave causes the electrons to move, the moving electrons impact with tungsten atoms and release phonons, which is what causes the wire to heat up and that causes the emission of photons.

2) NO, the signal, in this case we were talking AC power, but applies to any AC signal, does not move down the wire in one direction. Depending on whether the Live is higher potential than Neutral, or Neutral is higher potential than Live, determine which way the "energy" enters the equipment or is transferred. It defines on an instantaneous basis the electron drift direction. That means that energy is transferred whether electrons are "entering" the fuse or exiting the fuse .... and barring any transmission line effects, which at audio frequencies and fuse sizes will be zero, the bulk model for a fuse, will be the same no matter which way current flows.




"So in a nutshell the signal energy travels down the wire in one direction >>>> from the source to the load in the form of an electromagnetic wave. It’s the energy that causes the light bulb to light. 

It’s the energy that causes the fuse internal wire to melt if the fuse is overloaded. The energy moves in one direction from the source to the load. It does not travel back in forth in the fuse. Agree?"

Oh yes, LET'S USE A COAX AS AN EXAMPLE.

Do you even know what this example means?  There are a few effects going on in a coax. First you have transmission line effects ... that is because there IS a connection between the two wires in a coax. That connection is a capacitor, and inherent in the construction of the coax is the piece-wise inductance of the wire, i.e. every section of wire has an effective inductance. Why does that matter? ... well similar to how a pressure wave needs to travel through those pipe for water to come out (it only seems instantaneous), a voltage potential propagates along a coax, before conduction starts (well really that happens with all pairs of wires). 

A lot of high frequency coax cables do not use solid wires in the center, but I guess you are showing your lack of experience there.

You do realize that "energy" does not only flow into the center conductor right, it flows into the outer ground as well? Do you realize how the "shielding" even works? .. and I use quotations as the shielding is almost a misnomer, though the outcome is not. It does not so much "shield" the inner conductor, as it prevents a potential from being induced between the outer shield and the interior wire ... which works no matter whether the shield is ground, or the shield is signal, as you are interested in the differential between the two. The outer is usually ground as it is often connected to case ground. Of course, without twisting, it is susceptible to magnetic interference. 

"Use a coax cable for an example. Center conductor is solid wire. Shield is the signal ground conductor and is connected at both ends."