What is Electricity
Electricity is a force all around us and everything we do uses it. In a biological sense every brain signal we send up and down our spine is energy. It is also called work, the amount of work done burns an amount of energy (joules). But for this task I am talking about Electrical Energy which is movement of electrical charges. In layman's terms tiny things which everything is made from, is created at a power station by burning or spinning, pushed through wire and into our appliances. This may seem all complex but it really isn't. The normal process is we burn something such as coal, which heats water, which turns a turbine, which generates electricity and goes through the high voltage and low voltage grid to your house creating electricity. In Queensland and Australia our main fuel supply is black and brown coal followed by gas then hydroelectricity.
Above: A list of types of Energy
How is it Created
Most electricity it is caused by burning or spinning a product. For hydroelectricity, water flows over a generator spinning it and therefore generating electricity. For coal, it is burnt thereby heating water which causes steam which turns a turbine and creates electricity. For wind, wind turns a turbine blade which creates electricty. They are all adaptations of each other although there have been adaptions of the fuel types in recent years such as nuclear fission. They are all based on the original idea of a generator which sends electricity down the wires then it goes on a long journey of up to thousands of kilometres into the local grid then it reaches your house. Energy retail companies buy energy from a generator of electricity then charge you accordingly for the watts that you use.
What People Understand
Looking at my survey data , it says that most people don't know who supplies their electricity and how power is generated. But also I believe that people have misunderstood the media messages about power such as Wind and Solar, for example wind can be are effective, but only when and where it is windy. Also a large amount don't know who supplies their electricity or only basic details on coal and energy and nothing about transmission.
Big Words
The rate which energy is created or flows is called a Watt or Watt Hour, then a Kilowatt is 1000 watts and then a mega watt is one million watts. They are abbreviated W, kW and MW and it keeps going up to a gigawatts and even to a yatawatt, which is a huge amount of power.
What it Can't Do
Electricty is a great benifit to society but it has a major limitation. Electricity can't be stored, supply must meet demand exactly. If supply can not meet demand for reasons such as natural disasters or system failures, supply will fail and electricity to houses and businesses will stop.
Above:A power link graph about how energy gets to your home.
SWICHED ON Interactive Activity
For a more Detailed
http://www.energex.com.au/switched_on/project_info/what_is_electricity_your_home.html
http://www.energex.com.au/switched_on/project_info/what_is_electricity_your_home.html
