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As far as I searched, the verb "pass" can be used transitively or intransitively. So I think the following two sentences are possible:

  1. Current passes through a conductor.
  2. Current is passed through a conductor.

I think the sentences 1 and 2 have a slight difference in meaning. My question is that is a difference between "current passing through a conductor" and "current passed through a conductor" equivalent to the difference between the sentences 1 and 2?

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    It's just that the second (passive voice) version implies that some unspecified agent caused the current to pass through a conductor. In the first version, this just "happens" (unless we want to think of the current as an "independent agent" that can decide for itself whether and where it will pass). In practice, it doesn't make much sense to suppose the two sentences have different "meanings" - they're just different ways of saying the same thing, using active or passive voice.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jul 24, 2017 at 16:46
  • 1
    Your examples need more context. It is unlikely 2 would stand by itself without being linked to some other information..
    – user3169
    Commented Jul 24, 2017 at 17:15
  • "This device controls the current passing through/passed though/to be passed through/ the conductor". I would like to know which is better in this example.
    – rama9
    Commented Jul 24, 2017 at 17:22

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Those two sentences can have very different meanings.

Current passes through a conductor.

Absent further context, that is likely to be taken as a general statement about the nature of current. It is what current does.

Does current get annihilated when it contacts a conductor?
--No, current passes through a conductor.

Current is passed through a conductor.

Absent further context, that is likely to be taken as a statement about a particular situation, not a generality, for example: "In this experiment, current is passed through a conductor."

current passing through a conductor uses the present participle of the intransitive verb to refer to an ongoing action.

current passed through a conductor uses the past participle of the transitive verb to refer to a completed action. That which does the passing has done it.

If you wanted to create the sense of ongoing action with the transitive verb, it would be current being passed through a conductor.

If you wanted to create the sense of completed action with the intransitive verb, it would be current having passed through a conductor.

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