Understanding Electricity: A Comprehensive Overview

Electricity. It's hard to escape it in our modern world. Even when you do try and get away, it's still at work throughout nature from the lightning in a thunderstorm to the synapses in our body.

But what is electricity? It's a complicated question but we'll try to give you a good understanding below.

To understand what electricity is, we have to look at the science behind it at an atomic level.

Atoms are tiny particles that are the building blocks of everything around us from the computer in front of you to your very own body. Atoms are made up of even tinier elements, such as electrons. When magnetic forces move these electrons from one atom to another, an electrical current is formed.

To generate the magnetic force required to form a current, we need a fuel source such as coal, gas, hydropower or wind. These all involve slightly different processes of generating electricity.

When it comes to coal and gas, they are burned to heat water and turn it into steam. The steam is then used to spin a turbine. The spinning turbine causes large magnets to turn within copper coils – this is called the generator. These moving magnets cause the electrons we spoke about earlier to move from one atom to another, creating an electrical current and producing electricity.

The way we get the electric current in to our houses is by way of a sophisticated networked grid. After electricity has been generated it travels along conductor wires to homes and businesses across the country. This means that much of the power used in your home has travelled hundreds of kilometres by the time it reaches you!

Obviously, the electricity we have in nature doesn't require any special generator. So, how do things like lightning come about?

In a thundercloud, many small bits of ice bump into each other as they move around in the air. All of these collisions create an electric charge, much like the movement of the magnets in the example above. After a while the whole cloud fills up with electrical changes and when they grow large enough a giant spark occurs. From the ground, we see this as a flash of light we call lightning.

Electricity is a fascinating force – it can be used to cook our food on the stove, but it can also be strong enough to cook our whole body! That's why it's so important to be careful around electric currents, be they in your own home or during a thunder storm.

For more information about how to stay safe around electricity in your home, give your local electrician a call.