What is electricity? Part 1.

What is electricity? Part 1.

Electricity, really, is a phenomenon. We say it is the flow of electrons, negatively charged particles, best suited to flow through conducting materials like iron or copper. But that is what we think it is. We actually can’t see electrons (or any subatomic particle for that matter - they are 1/1840th of the size of a proton), but when there is a force that pushes them, they hop from one atom to another (atoms of the copper wire lets say). And when they flow through the copper wire we can make them do work for us. 

But what makes them want to flow, whats the pushing force? It is all about some pressure behind the electrons. 

When wind blows, it blows from an area of high pressure, to an area of low pressure. The ‘wind’, ie moving air molecules, essentially goes from where there is “too much” of themselves, to an area where there is “not enough” of themselves. Same with electrons. Because they are all negatively charged, they want to push themselves away from each other. And that is how a battery can give us electricity. When electrons get forced onto one side of the battery (the negatively charged side), and it is charged, the pressure or voltage is really high, and the moment they get the chance (you close a circuit for them to flow through) they will immediately flow down the copper wire and do work for us (and end up on the other side of the battery, or the positively charged side where there aren’t many of them). 

When we charge a battery, we put lots of electrons onto that negatively charged side by forcing them in and packing them in super tight, creating lots of pressure. And like when you’re in a packed elevator and the doors open, you flow out. That is what the flow (or current) of electrons is kind of like. And this is electricity. 

The other way to push electrons through a copper wire is with magnets. When you pass a magnet around a copper wire, the magnetic field can be felt by electrons in the copper wire (the electrons of the copper atoms). When the magnet is strong enough it can induce a force on the electrons where they can begin hopping from atom to atom. Stop moving the magnet around the wire and they will stop hopping from atom to atom because the magnetic force ends. And most electricity is actually created like this. Those huge dams you see; the water pushes big turbines with magnets in them that move around big copper wires. And then it pushes electrons in the conductor down the line to your house. So you can have electricity. 

Where it starts to feel like magic, is when you think about what the field is: electromagnetism. A magnet on its own has a magnetic field. And a stationary wire has an electric field. When they interact with each other a new, electromagnetic field is created. And the mechanical force of moving the magnet has a corresponding effect on the electrical force induced in the flow of electrons. 

That’s all well and good; but how does electricity actually do work for us?