Electricity?

What is it? Wat is all this electricity nonsense?

Step 1 Electrons!

Atoms (the stuff that makes up stuff) have a nucleus; a hard center which determines the atom's weight and properties. This nucleus is made of both positively charged protons and charge-less neutrons. Spinning around that nucleus at near the speed of light are clouds of electrons; particles with a negative charge. Normally the atoms have an identical number of electrons and protons, and because of this atoms typically have a net charge of 0. However, these electrons can be removed or added leaving the atom charged either charged positively or negatively, respectively.

Atoms don’t like to be charged however and they do their best to become neutral. Metals tend to allow their electron clouds to be modified easily, and when you add one electron to a metal atom's cloud another one jumps out into a neighboring atom's cloud. This bumps another electron out of that cloud and a chain reaction is put into place. An electric current is now formed in the conductor, and it will continue until a bumped electron hits a positively charged atom and fills the "hole" in that atom's cloud. This flow from negative to positive is called electricity.

Comments

[Jimmy Proton]

Why is it that so many people think electricity flows from positive to negative?

[aeternusjunk]

It's all Ben Franklin's fault and his inability to determine the charge on an electron before labeling a bunch of stuff he didn't understand.

[dumle29]

because electricity flows from +5v to for example -5v.
Alot of people, like me, think of + and - like this:

positive = positive ammount of electrons in relation to protons (negative charge)

negative = negative ammount of electrons in relation to protons
(positive charge)

:)

[Rafael61]

For an answer to your question, see:

http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/t-conventional-vs-electron-flow.aspx

[Jimmy Proton]

That's a lot to read =( but thanks!

[AdamMunich]

Idunno

[Jimmy Proton]

You should stick a fork in the toaster, electricity is just a myth!

[Patman27]

This instructable looks extremely informative, I must say. I still need to finish reading your exhaustively in-depth article on High Voltage, but this looks like it belongs in the Instructables Hall of Fame for informative articles.

[PKM]

Great guide- concise and informative. Please do a "part 2" on the difference between amps and amp-hours and make everyone read it :D

Also maybe one for newsreaders and lazy journalists on why saying "this power plant will produce enough electricity to power 4,000 homes a year" is meaningless tosh and they should learn a little bit about electricity... if only...

[rtty21]

great instructable! very nice pictures and videos! the visuals were rich and the writing was very nice and easy to understand! 5 stars!