Electricity
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Electricity has two meanings, which are used in different places. The first meaning is electricity related to physics, while the simpler meaning is electrician's electricity.
The meaning in physics is: Electricity is when electrons move through something.
The electrician's meaning of electricity is: Electricity when electricity moves through a metal. Every day, electricians usually think that electricity is when positive electricity goes through metal, even though they know that what actually moves are the electrons. They use this explanation because it is simpler.
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[change] Electricity in physics
In physics, "Gravitation pulls things from a place that is higher to a place that is lower". This can be stated as "Electricity goes from the place where there are more protons (+) than electrons (-)) to the place where there are more electrons (-) than protons (+)." Another way to explain flow of electricity is with water. Water always flows from a higher place to a lower place. This can be said even simpler as: "Energy moves from somewhere high to somewhere low."
[change] Protons and Neutrons
Electric charge has to do with electrons and protons. Electrons are negatively charged while protons are positively charged. Electric charge is a "conserved" property, which means that it acts like an object and can be moved from place to place. It also means that energy can not be made or destroyed, it can only be changed from electrical energy (one form) to any other kind of energy (like heat, kinetic energy, mechanical energy, etc.)
[change] Examples
- Electric current is when electric charge moves. When 1 Coulomb of electricity moves past somewhere in 1 second, the current is 1 Ampere.
- Electric voltage is the "push" behind the current. It is the amount of work per electric charge that an electric source can do. If a source can do 1 Joule of work on 1 Coulomb of charge, it has a 1 Volt of electric potential.
- Electric resistance is the ability of a substance to resist the flowing of the current, i.e. to reduce the amount of current that flows through the substance. If an electric voltage of 1 Volt maintains a current of 1 Ampere through a wire, the resistance of the wire is 1 Ohm. When the flow of current is opposed (resisted) energy is gets used or gets converted to other forms (eg. heat, etc.).
- Electric energy is the ability to do work by means of electric devices. Electric energy is a "conserved" property, meaning that it behaves like a substance and can be moved from place to place. Electric energy is measured in Joules or kilowatt-hours (kwh). Electric energy is the amount of energy that an amount of electricity can produce at a time.
- Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is being used, stored, or transferred. Flows of electrical energy along power lines are measured in Watts. If the electric energy is being converted to another form of energy, it is measured in Watts. If it is stored (as in electric or magnetic fields), it is measured in Volt-Ampere-Reactive. If some of it is converted and some of it is stored, it is measured in Volt-Amperes.
[change] Methods of generating
Electricity is generated in places called power stations. There are many ways of generating electricity, and they can be classified into two parts: renewable energy resources and non-renewable energy resources.
[change] Geothermal power stations
Geothermal power stations drill deep into the earth's crust accessing heat to generate electricity (thus comes "thermal" meaning heat). The heat is used to turn water into steam. The force of the steam turns giant fan-like structures called turbines, which in turn cause 'generators' to generate electricity. The heat may be generated by burning fossil fuels (sources of non-reusable energy dug from the earth that were formed over millions of years due to high pressure and temperature on dead plants and animals buried deep inside the earth) Examples are oil, coal, natural gas. Geothermal power stations use the heat from rocks deep inside the earth to heat water in pipes in order to turn it into steam. This is done in New Zealand, Iceland, and many other places with volcanic hot spots.
[change] Renewable sources of electricity
There are many other renewable sources of energy. HEP(stands for Hydro-Electric Power)uses the force of water in rivers to turn turbine which turn generators. HEP schemes are found across the Amazon River in Brazil. Wave energy is another option where the force of sea waves is used to turn turbines. Wind energy is another where the force of the wind is used to turn giant, noisy and typically ugly 'wind turbines'. Solar power is another renewable energy resource where the sun's energy is converted to electric energy by solar cells.
