Webby,
Your confusion is apparent and understandable. There is lots of misinformation about how transistors work. They are voltage controlled devices, not current controlled like many would have you believe. The base current is "spillage" from the forward bias of the emitter-base junction that happens to be proportional to the collector current, but the emitter-base voltage really controls the current. Also the term current flow is wrong. Current does not flow, charge flows. Current is charge flow, and it does not flow within itself.
Read the link below for a correct and easily understood explanation of how transistors really work.
http://amasci.com/amateur/transis.html Ratch
Your confusion is apparent and understandable. There is lots of misinformation about how transistors work. They are voltage controlled devices, not current controlled like many would have you believe. The base current is "spillage" from the forward bias of the emitter-base junction that happens to be proportional to the collector current, but the emitter-base voltage really controls the current. Also the term current flow is wrong. Current does not flow, charge flows. Current is charge flow, and it does not flow within itself.
Read the link below for a correct and easily understood explanation of how transistors really work.
http://amasci.com/amateur/transis.html Ratch