Hi. I'm just trying to understand how voltaic cells work. Suppose we have the usual textbook example: copper and copper ions in one beaker, zinc and zinc ions in another beaker, and some kind of salt bridge. All the descriptions I've read are quite vague about exactly what happens when you connect the two electrodes with a wire. They talk like this puts the copper in direct contact with the zinc, and they completely neglect the material of the wire itself.
As I understand, what drives the reaction is the difference in electronegativity between the two metals. So then, what happens if the wire connecting them has higher electronegativity than both zinc and copper?
More generally, what happens in the wire, and how can the copper pull electrons through it?
Thanks.