[Music] electricity have you ever wondered what electricity is and where it comes from in this video we are going to talk about electricity found in nature called lightning and man-made electricity like batteries power plants and more electricity found in nature is called lightning lightning is an electric current and is super hot even hotter than the surface of the sun lightning occurs when small bits of ice bump into each other as they move around in a cloud together and create an electric charge when the cloud fills up with these charges it interacts with the opposite charges on the ground kind of like the positive and negative sides of a battery lightning strikes and you have an electric current electricity is all around us think about a day in your life and all the things you use electricity for would you be okay living without these things but what exactly is electricity and how does it work are you ready for an introduction to electricity electricity is created when electrons move from one atom to another when the electrons are moving they produce something called an electric current there are two types of electric currents direct current and alternating current direct current is the power that comes from batteries fuel cells and solar cells batteries have a plus and minus sign on them the plus sign stands for positive and the minus sign stands for negative the electric current in the batteries always flows in the same direction and in a loop from the positive to the negative side batteries power things like game controllers flashlights phones even the tv remote we fight over fuel cells also work like batteries except they don't need to be recharged fuel cells take chemicals like hydrogen and oxygen and put them together when the two chemicals react to each other or have a chemical reaction electricity is created fuel cells can provide power for something as big as a utility power station to something as small as a laptop computer there are even hydrogen powered vehicles that use fuel cells some of these vehicles include forklifts cars boats and buses have you seen solar cells on the roofs of various homes and buildings maybe you even have some on your own home they look like black rectangles made of glass the materials inside the boxes release electrons when light shines on them which then creates an electric current can you guess where the light comes from that shines on these boxes if you said the sun you're absolutely right solar cells use the light from the sun to make electricity there are some important words that have to do with electricity these words are watts or how much power a light is using voltage how much power is available for the light to use and amps how fast the electrons are traveling to the light bulb shorter longer thicker and thinner wires also affect how electricity travels shorter and thicker wires allow for better flow of electrons than thinner and longer wires now let's learn about alternating current alternating current is an electric current that reverses directions many times a second this power comes from power plants the electricity travels through the power lines that you see along roadways and open fields the electrons travel in a big loop from a power plant to the wires that are hooked up to your house and then back to the power plant again when you turn on the light in your home or plug something into an electrical outlet the power flows from the power plant but before it enters your home it passes through something called a transformer nope not that kind of transformer that would be really cool though transformers are attached to the utility box or power poles near your home the electric current flows from the transformer to the circuit breaker or fuse box in your home that fuse box then routes the electric current to each of your outlets and switches the transformer's job is to make sure that the right amount of power is going to your home this is a very important job if too much electric current flows all at once it could blow a circuit and cause all the appliances in your home to stop working and if too little current flows it won't be enough to power all of your appliances power plants all over the country use different kinds of fuel to produce electricity thermal power plants use coal biomass petroleum or natural gas to heat water into steam that steam then powers a generator which produces electricity isn't that amazing that hot water can produce electricity nuclear power plants use fission which means splitting atoms splitting the atoms creates energy which produces heat which also creates steam geothermal power plants use the heat located inside the earth to create the steam and hydro power plants use wind and moving water to create the steam electricity can also be produced by magnets can you guess why you already know that electricity is created when electrons move from one atom to another but did you know that a magnetic field can move electrons power plants use giant magnets to create electricity in a generator the generator has a coil of copper wire inside the magnets steam makes the generator spin causing the electrons in the copper wire to flow through the power lines another type of electricity you are probably familiar with is called static electricity have you ever been shocked when you touched a doorknob after walking in socks across the carpet that's static electricity it happens when electrons move from one place to another like from your hand to the doorknob electrons can move more easily in some objects than in others and when certain materials rub against each other like your socks and the carpet they transfer electrons another example of static electricity is when a balloon is rubbed on your hair you might have tried this trick before it's fun the balloon picks up extra electrons which then attract your hair to the balloon this causes a literal hair raising experience the name for any material or substance that allows electricity to flow through it is called a conductor conductors include metals like steel copper iron gold and silver but water animals trees and even people can be conductors too that's why you should stay inside during a lightning storm you do not want an electric current flowing through you insulators on the other hand are the opposite of conductors so if conductors allow electricity to flow then what do you think insulators do they block or prevent the flow of electricity examples of insulators include plastic glass porcelain and rubber most electrical wires are covered in a plastic or rubber coating can you guess why what do you think might happen if you touched a wire that wasn't wrapped in an insulator if you said you could get shocked you're absolutely right it's important to never touch any wires that you see you never know if they are alive which means that electric current is flowing through them the plastic or rubber is used as insulators to prevent the electricity from traveling into other objects like yourself so where did electricity come from electricity wasn't invented by anyone it's a form of energy that occurs naturally however it is believed that the ancient greeks first discovered static electricity in 600 bc and in the 1930s archaeologists discovered ancient batteries that may have been used at roman sites i wonder if those would power my controller people have been doing experiments with electricity for years you may have seen images of benjamin franklin who was one of america's founding fathers experimenting with electricity a kite a key and a storm benjamin franklin proved there was a connection between lightning and electricity he was a pretty smart guy there is much more to be learned about electricity but what we do know is that without it life would be much different for many people now that you know more about electricity see if you can figure out these riddles a group of birds are sitting on the power lines near your home but none of them get shocked why if you said it's because those wires are wrapped in an insulator you're correct insulators like plastic and rubber prevent the flow of electricity but even though they are wrapped those wires still aren't safe to touch if you ever see one down on the ground don't touch it and get a grown-up ready for another riddle i am incredibly hot hotter even than the surface of the sun i come from the sky and when i connect with the ground i make a big zap i have electric current but i am not used to power your electronics what am i did you guess lightning well done remember electric current in nature is called lightning and the electric current in our homes is produced by power plants solar panels batteries and more here's your last riddle when you put our positive and negative sides together we stick but if you flip one of us over we push each other away we are used to generate electricity and power plants but also stick pictures of you to your fridge what are we i bet you said magnets well done now that you are an expert about electricity share some of these fun facts with your family and friends isn't electricity fascinating hope you had fun learning with us visit us at learnbright.org for thousands of free resources and turn-key solutions for teachers and homeschoolers [Music] you