Facts about electricity
Facts about electricity
2. Electric potential energy is measured in volts.
3. A spark of static electricity can measure up to three thousand (3,000) volts.
4. A bolt of lightning can measure up to three million (3,000,000) volts and it lasts less than one second.
5. Lightning is a discharge of electricity in the atmosphere. Lightning bolts can travel at around 210,000 kph, and reach nearly 30,000 °C in temperature.
6. Electricity always tries to find the easiest path to the ground.
7. When energy is flowing, that is called a current.
8. Electricity can be made from wind, water, the sun and even animal poo.
9. A 600 megawatt natural gas plant can power 220,000 homes.
10. The first power plant - owned by Thomas Edison - opened in New York City in 1882.
11. Thomas Edison invented more than 2,000 new products, including almost everything needed for us to use electricity in our homes: switches, fuses, sockets and meters.
12. Benjamin Franklin didn't discover electricity, but he did prove that lightning is a form of electrical energy.
13. When an electric charge builds up on the surface of an object it creates static electricity.
14. Electric current is measured in amperes (amps).
15. Electric eels can produce strong electric shocks of around 500 volts for both self defence and hunting.
16. The first electric battery was developed by Alessandro Volta about 200 years ago. He discovered that when two strips of different metals were put in a sulphuric acid solution and connected with a wire, electricity began to flow.
17. Voltage means electrical pressure. You can think of it like the pressure that pushes water through your garden hose. The higher the voltage the more electricity there is flowing through the power line.
18. Why don’t birds sitting on a power line get electrocuted? If a bird sits on just one power line it is safe. However if it touches another line with a wing or foot, it creates a circuit and the electricity will flow through its body from one line to the other, causing electrocution.
19. Nuclear Power:Some power plants have machines called nuclear reactors where the heat is produced. Within these reactors are atoms of a radioactive metal called uranium. Heat is created when these atoms are split apart. This heat boils water, creating steam that turns turbines to generate electricity
20. Coal:This fossil fuel is burned in large boilers that are found in power plants. The burning coal heats water and this produces steam which spins a turbine engine.
21. Natural Gas:There are generally two ways natural gas is used to create electricity. One way involves burning it to heat water, which produces steam that turns a turbine. It may also be burned directly in a turbine as a way of creating gases that will spin turbine blades.
22.Solar Power:Solar power is energy that is created directly from the light or heat of the sun. One method uses special solar panels to capture the sun’s light and convert it directly into electricity. The other uses the sun’s heat to produce the steam that will spin turbines and generate electricity.
23. Wind Power:Wind is used to spin turbines, modern windmills, which generate the power. There’s one drawback with using wind. Since it comes and goes, we can’t always rely on it to produce electricity when we want it.
24. Water Power (Hydro Power):To generate electricity with this renewable source, water from a river or dam is sent through a turbine. This moving water causes the turbine’s blades to spin, which generates power.
25. Geothermal Power:It sounds complicated but geothermal power basically means using the heat from below the Earth’s surface.To use this renewable source, underground water is converted into steam that will spin turbines and generate power.
26. Biomass:Biomass is a renewable source of energy that uses organic materials to produce heat. To do this, wood by-products, plants, crops and animal waste are used instead of fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. Burning this organic waste creates the heat and steam that spins electricity-making turbines. For example cow manure is a source of biomass energy because animal waste gives off methane gas.
27. Thomas Edison didn't invent the first light bulb but he did invent one that stayed lit for more than a few seconds. Thomas Edison invented more than 2,000 new products, including almost everything needed for us to use electricity in our homes: switches, fuses, sockets and meters.
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