Electricity

By Holly Glenn

Battery: A battery is a self-contained, chemical power pack that can produce a limited amount of electrical energy wherever it's needed. Unlike normal electricity, which flows to your home through wires that start off in a power plant, a battery slowly converts chemicals packed inside it into electrical energy, typically released over a period of days, weeks, months, or even years.

When the switch of a flashlight is pushed to the on position, it makes contact between two contact strips, which begin a flow of electricity, powered by the battery.

Complete Circuit: In a complete circuit, electrons flow from the source of electric energy to the consumer of electric energy (also called the load) and then back to the source. There is no gap or break in the path that would disrupt the electric energy flow. In the diagram below, the battery is the source that supplies energy to the circuit, and the light bulb is the load where energy leaves the circuit.

Source

Load

Because graphite is a conductor of electricity, you can create a complete circuit using a battery, thick drawn graphite lines on paper, and a small lightbulb.

Conductors of Electricity: A conductor of electricity is a material or substance that allows for the flow of an electrical current in one or more directions. Some conductors of electricity are graphite, copper, aluminum , gold, and silver.

Copper is often used in electrical wiring because it is an efficient conductor of electricity, and it is strong and reliable.

Electrical Charge: Electrical charge refers to the quantity of electricity that is related to the balance of electrons and protons in an object. Protons have positive charges and electrons have negative charges. There are two types of electric charges: positive and negative. Like charges repel and unlike attract.

When you scuff your feet across a rug, you pick up electrons from the rug and you take on a slightly negative electrical charge. If you then touch a doorknob, you might experience a small shock as the electrons transfer from you to the doorknob.

Electrical Circuit: An electric circuit is a path in which electrons from an electric energy source flow. An electric circuit usually has four basic parts: an energy source, a conductor (wire), an electrical load (device), and at least one controller (switch) that controls whether or not electricity is able to flow through the circuit.

Home appliances, like refrigerators, televisions, and lamps, are usually powered through the use of electrical circuits.

Electrical Current: An electrical current is an electric charge in motion. It is the flow of charged particles - the flow of electricity.

Examples of an electrical current are a lightning bolt you might see during a thunderstorm and the electricity that travels through power lines. 

Electrical Insulators:

An electrical insulator is a material that does not allow electricity to easily pass through it. The electrons in the atoms of insulators do not freely move from atom to atom. As a result, electric charges do not freely move from place to place. Some examples of electrical insulators are plastics, Styrofoam, paper, rubber, glass, and dry air.

An insulator, usually made of plastic or rubber, is wrapped around electrical wires (conductors), to prevent accidental contact with other conductors and to protect us from electric shocks.

Incomplete Circuit: An incomplete circuit, also called an open circuit, is a circuit where the path has been interrupted or "opened" at some point so that electric energy cannot flow.

An incomplete circuit might be unintentional, due to a break in a wire, but could also be intentional with the use of a switch that can interrupt the flow of electricity when put in the off position.