How does Electricity work?

To understand electricity well we must possess the knowledge of matter first.

Matter is anything that occupies space and has weight. Matter may either consist of various elements or occur as a single element.
An element is a substance which cannot be split into simpler substances. For example copper, oxygen, carbon, gold etc. Elements are made up of many atoms.
An atom is the smallest electrically neutral indivisible particle of an element which takes part in a chemical reaction. Atoms are made up of Protons, Neutrons and electrons. Each of these has at least one property:

• Protons are positively charged
• Electrons are negatively charged
• Neutrons have no charge

The visualised structure of an atom. It is a Carbon - 12 atom

Electricity is a branch of science concerned with charges.

Acid Battery

Electricity is often drawn from these devices:

Electric Dry Cells

Solar Panels

Generators

 And alternators used in dams to supply a national grid.

 In Electricity, we have terms like Conductors and Insulators

• Conductors are materials/substances that allow electricity to pass through them easily. Examples are; copper, aluminium, silver and all wet substances. Copper and silver are good compared to other conductors because they have very low resistance.
• Insulators are materials that do not allow electricity to pass through them easily. Examples are; papers, rubber, dry wood, plastics, glass, polyvinyl chloride and Bakelite. Rubber and glass are good insulators compared to others because they have very high resistance.

 

There are two types of electricity:

1. Static electricity
2. Current electricity

Static Electricity is where both positive and negative charges do not move in a material. Either of the charges gather on a surface of a material without moving.

Whereas Current Electricity is where electrons move freely in a conductor.

Probably you have heard of these terms:

• Electric Current, this is the drift of electrons in a conductor. (The electrons move from atom to atom in the conductor). It is also the charge flowing in the circuit per unit time. I is the symbol for electric current.
• Electric Circuit, the path of electricity or conductors along which electricity flows.

Ampere. An ampere is the SI unit of Current often abbreviated as A.

When an electric current flows through a wire a Potential difference is said to exist.

A Potential difference between two points A and B (in a circuit) is the work done when moving a unit of charge from A to B.

Volt is the SI unit of Potential difference.

When current flows through a circuit, some components in the circuit pose opposition against it. This opposition is called Resistance.

The SI unit of Resistance is ohm, its symbol is Ω.