Electricity Essay

Did you know that a spark of electricity can measure up to 3,000 volts? Electricity is all around us. It powers cars, computers, cell phones, television sets, stoves, air conditioners, and gives us light. What is electricity? A simple definition would be a type of energy that can build up in one place or flow from one place to another, or the flow of charged atomic particles. It is a movement of charged atomic particles, called electrons, protons, and neutrons. The two main forms of electricity are static electricity and electrical currents. Have you ever taken off your hat after being outside in the cold and your hair stands up? This is because of static electricity. Static electricity is electrical charges building up on the surface of

Direct currents only go one way. They are unidirectional. Examples of a direct current are batteries and circuits. Direct currents are used to power video game systems such as xbox, playstation, or wii. Alternating currents go in two directions, They are bidirectional. An example of this is household electricity. Alternating currents alternate directions sixty times per second. While the electrons are alternating directions, the light bulb goes on and off. Light bulbs are always flickering, but it is too fast for the human eye to see, which is why we don’t see the constant flickering in light bulbs. Did you know the amount of energy Americans use doubles every twenty years? What is energy? “Energy is the ability to do work, or the ability to move, or elicit change in matter.” (Castro 2014) Energy is just there, it cannot be created or destroyed. It can also be transferred between two objects by using force. We measure energy in joules. It can be converted from one form to another. Energy is transferred with kinetic and potential energy. We use kinetic and potential energy

It is very important, especially now when almost all new technology is electrically powered. Electrical energy is the flow of electric charge through a conductor, such as metal, copper, or silver. Toasters, microwaves, and video games use electrical energy.

A fifth form of energy is gravitational energy. An example of gravitational energy is water falling off a cliff, forming a waterfall. This is gravitational energy because gravity caused the water to fall instead of staying suspended in the air. The water used gravitational energy to fall down the cliff. If gravitational energy did not exist, the water would not be able to fall off the cliff, it would just stay at the top of the cliff.

Another form of energy is light energy. Light energy is energy that is visible to us with the human eye. The sun, a candle, or a flashlight produce light energy. These are examples of light energy because they give off light that we can see. If light energy did not exist, the sun wouldn’t be able to give off light energy and we would not have that giant light and heat source in our solar system which is very important and essential in our