Electrical Energy

Electricity is a kind of energy that comes from the flow of protons and electrons making them into a positive or negative charge.  Electricity is very powerful and billions of people use it to run their homes.  This form of energy can do a lot of jobs for us like make heat, make light, make sounds, make motors turn, run televisions and so much more.  Even our nerves and our brains work on electricity.

Two interesting kinds of electricity are static and current electricity.  Static electricity is a build up of positive and negative charges.  Positive charges are called protons and negative charges are called neutrons.  When an object is brought near another object with an opposite charge the objects are attracted to each other.  When an object is brought near another object that has the same charge the objects repel.

Current electricity has many different features.  Conductors of electricity allow currents to flow through them such as tin, nails, paper clips, foil, copper and water.
Insulators prohibit the flow of electricity.  Examples of insulators are paper, cotton, plastic,
fabric, glass and wood.  A circuit is a circle in which electricity flows completely.  Two kinds of circuits are series and parallel.  A series circuit has only one complete path and if the path is interuppted the flow of electricity will stop.  A parallel circuit has two or more connected paths.  If the path is interupted in one area but there is still a complete circuit then electricity will still flow.  Making circuits and testing them are a lot of fun!

Try these simple experiments to see how static and current electricity work.
 
 

Materials
2 balloons
comb
sink with running water

• Rub each balloon on your head.
• Hold them near each other.
• The charges from the balloons are the same so the balloons repel each other.

• Next rub the comb on your sleeve or in your hair.
• Run a thin stream of water and hold the comb very close to the stream.
• The charges are the opposite so the comb and water attract each.

2 C size batteries
1 flashlight bulb
wire
1 piece of paper  (the length of the two batteries)
1 rubber band

Procedures

• Tightly wrap the wire around the flashlight bulb.
• Place the 2 batteries on the paper so that the positive ends are facing up.
• Place the wire next to the batteries with the bulb on top of the positive end.
• Leave the bottom end of the wire sticking out of the bottom.
• Roll the batteries and wire up tightly in the paper and secure it with a rubber band.
• Use the bottom of the wire to touch the bottom of the battery.
• The light should go on and your circuit is complete.