How does electrons create electricity

For simplicity, let's focus on direct current. As the electrons flow through the circuit, they flow down the potential energy slope that is created by the voltage.

Once they reach the pump at the end of the circuit, the low-energy electrons are boosted back up to a high potential energy so that they can start flowing through the circuit again. The situation is a bit like an artificial waterfall in your backyard.

Water flows down the waterfall and into a pool because of the natural pull of gravity, just like how electrons flow through the circuit because of the pull of the applied voltage. A water pump then pushes the water in the pool back up to a high energy state at the top of the waterfall, just like how a battery pushes electrons back up to a higher energy state at the beginning of the circuit. The cycle then repeats.

Since the pumping of charge is the cause of the electric current in a circuit electricity system, the current will never stop flowing as long as the pump remains on and the circuit remains uninterrupted. Circuits don't create, destroy, use up, or lose electrons. They just carry the electrons around in circles.

For this reason, circuit electrical systems can't really run out of electrons. The energy delivered through a circuit is not the result of electrons existing in the circuit. Electrons always exist in the circuit as part of the atoms and molecules that make up the circuit. The electrical energy that is delivered is the result of the electrons moving through the circuit.

When a battery organises electrons they all move in the same direction at the same time — the battery pumps electrons through the circuit wires from the negative terminal to the positive. Because they're all going in one direction, it's called a direct current DC. The electricity generators at power stations organise electrons in a slightly different way. They pump electrons, but they change the direction they're pumping them times every second.

So instead of moving along in one direction like in a DC circuit, the electrons stay pretty much where they are and constantly jiggle forwards and backwards. If you could see inside the power cord when an appliance is turned on, you'd think the electrons had just learned how to line dance — they're all constantly taking one step forward, one step backwards in synch.

The constantly changing direction is what's behind its name, alternating current AC. So a current is just electrons moving in an organised way in a circuit. But how do electrons on the run make the heat that's behind toasting, drying and foot warming? All wires get a little bit hot when they've got a current running through them, because as the electrons move in the wire they bang into the metal atoms.

And whenever they prang into an atom, energy from the moving electrons gets given off as heat. We use copper for electrical wiring because it's easy peasy for electrons to move around in, so not too much energy gets wasted as heat. You just need to use a bit of metal that's really hard for electrons to move through, like nickel.

Run a current through nichrome and you'll get some serious heat. While the electrons in the copper wires can move around easily, the ones in the nichrome element are constantly banging into the nickel and chromium atoms and leaking heat all over the place. Which is just what you want on those wet-haired, stale bread days.

But heating is only one of the things electric appliances can do. Most of the other things involve making things move - and that involves a motor.

So how do organised electrons make a motor spin? Every appliance with moving parts more complex than a pop-up toaster has got an electric motor in it. Materials Per Group: students stool, chair or box masking tape box of Smarties or suitable small, nut free candy Key Questions How could we increase the current in other words, how can we make the electrons move faster?

What To Do Students form a circle to represent the wire. It may help to tape a circle on the floor or use a circle marked on the gym floor. Explain that the students are electrons. There are always electrons in the wire, and they are always moving randomly, a little bit in every direction.

Choose one of the students to be the power source battery. The closest student to the battery moves forward to get a Smartie. As soon as the electrons start moving in one place, they start moving everywhere. As the electrons pass the battery, they get energy Next pick someone to be a switch.

The switch, when off, will completely stop the electron movement. Now put a stool or a chair or a box in the circle. This represents a resistance. The electrons have to climb over the stool to move forward. The whole electron chain will slow down, showing that the current slows down when there is a resistance. How could we convince the electrons to move faster through the resistance?

We could pass out more smarties! This represents a greater voltage more energy per electron. At this atomic level matter possesses two basic characteristics. Matter has mass and it may have an electrical charge, either positive, negative, or it could be neutral with no charge. Each atom contains three types of particles with different characteristics; positive protons, neutral neutrons, and negative electrons.

Electric current electricity is a flow or movement of electrical charge. The electricity that is conducted through copper wires in your home consists of moving electrons. The protons and neutrons of the copper atoms do not move.

The actual progression of the individual electrons in a given direction through the wire is quite slow. The electrons have to work their way through the billions of atoms in the wire and this takes considerable time. In the case of a 12 gauge copper wire carrying 10 amperes of current typical of home wiring , the individual electrons only move about 0.

If this is the situation in nature, why do the lights come on so quickly?