Electricity powers everything you see, touch, and use in your everyday life—from the lights to the stove to your phone. It’s a clean, efficient way to get energy that’s also safe for the environment and people. Before Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and other electrical pioneers brought electricity to the world, people had to make fires with wood or coal to heat their homes or cook their food. Now, all they have to do is plug in and turn on.
But what exactly is electricity? According to Britannica, it’s the phenomenon that occurs when electrons flow through a conductor. These electrons create a magnetic field around the conductor and produce three different effects: heat, magnetism, and electromagnetic radiation (which includes light, radio waves, microwaves, and X-rays).
Electrons in an atom are attracted to its protons and held in place by their shell’s orbits. However, the outer electrons are easily displaced by external forces. When these electrons are shifted in sync, they create electricity. You can create static electricity by rubbing your hair with a cloth or by touching an object that has a negative charge to one that has a positive charge. You can generate electricity by spinning a coil of wire in a magnetic field or by using an arc welding machine to pass a current through a conducting material.
When we think about the electricity we consume, it’s important to know that power is the ability to accelerate mass a given distance in a certain amount of time. This is measured in watts. One watt is enough to move an object like a 15 kg kid against the force of gravity for 1 meter in one second. Powering cars with electricity causes no tailpipe emissions but generating it from fossil fuels produces air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHGs). Nuclear, hydro-electric, wind, and solar energy all provide sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels.
What’s more, all motion can be traced back to particles in motion. Whether it’s the motion of electrons in a conductor or the rotation of the Earth, all motion is ultimately based on the laws of particle physics.
When you flip the switch to turn on a light, you’re closing a circuit that allows electrons to flow through the device and illuminate it. The same goes when you turn the switch off to shut off a light. When a light is off, you’re opening the circuit. This is why it takes a little bit more time for a light to turn off than to turn on: the switch has to open and close the circuit. Energy storage can help smooth out variable or intermittent resources like wind and solar by storing excess energy when the sun is shining and delivering it when demand shifts quickly. Energy storage is an essential tool for a sustainable electricity future.