what is electricity

What is electricity?

It is a form of energy, evident from the fact that it runs machinery and can be transformed into other types of energy such as light and heat.

It is invisible. During an electrical storm, we do not see electricity. We observe the air being ionized when the electricity travels through it.

Electricity is created when particles become charged. Some are negatively charged (electrons), some are positively charged (protons). These opposite charges attract; whereas particles with similar charges repel each other.

The nucleus of the atom contains protons (positively charged) and neutrons (no charge) around which electrons (negatively charged) whirl. An electron is two thousand times smaller in mass than a proton but its electrical charge is equal to that of a proton. Electrons of many elements, particularly metals, are easily knocked off from their parent atoms and can wander freely between atoms. If a state of unbalanced charges exists, a necessary condition to create an electric current also exists. However, the flow of electric current cannot take place until the circuit is completed. When a battery or other electrical source is attached to a wire, which is connected to some form of resistance, (a light, a bell, a motor, etc.), and a circuit is completed back to the source or to ground, free electrons are released into the wire, creating an electrical potential or voltage. The electrons bounce against other electrons in the wire which are repelled because they have the same electrical charge. They go on bouncing against other free electrons down the wire, causing a flow of electrons - an electrical current. Provided there is somewhere for the electrons to go, such as a lamp or a motor, where the energy is converted to another form of energy, the electrons flow out the far end.