the lemon battery

Did you know you can make electricity without a battery or a generator? You can make a small amount of electricity with a lemon. To make a lemon battery and feel the electric "juice" flow, just read the materials and procedure.

You'll need these materials to make the Lemon Battery:

1 fresh lemon 1 sharp knife (make sure to have adult help with the knife) 1 dime and 1 penny (clean them well — or you can use zinc or copper strips) 1 adult helper

1. Shake and roll the lemon on a table to "activate" the juices in the lemon.
2. With the help of an adult, cut two small slices in the lemon about 1/2 inch apart. The penny and dime will go in these slits.
3. Place your penny into one slot and your dime into the other slot.
4. With your tongue touch both the penny and the dime at the same time. Can you feel anything? Maybe a tingling?

The acid in the lemon reacts differently with each of the two metals. One of the coins contains positive electric charges, while the other contains negative electric charges. These charges create current, which will flow if the battery circuit is complete. Your tongue acts like a wire and conducts the charges, making the circuit complete. The complete electric circuit causes a small amount of electricity to flow, which causes the sensation on your tongue. Regular batteries are very similar to your lemon battery. Good Job!
if you are conducting an experiment you should be careful.  , you should make sure to do the following:

Dispose of the lemon and clean the coins upon completion of the experiment. Follow all directions carefully and work in a clean, safe area. Tell your parents/teachers you are conducting an experiment and ask if they want to help. If you have questions or problems, feel free to ask an adult for help. Don't do any experiment that you feel is too complex.

Why is hydropower a green energy source?

Why is hydropower a green energy source?

Why is hydropower a green energy source? Hydropower or hydro-electric energy, is obtained when electricity is produced by converting hydraulic energy from moving water in lakes or rivers. It is a renewable source of energy, and it is also a clean energy but it is not always considered a green energy by everyone as some critics point out to the damages caused to lakes by release of methane gas.
More than 2000 years ago  the Ancient Greek used waterwheels in rapidly flowing rivers to turn millstones and other equipment. During the middle ages Europe had several thousands hydraulic installations that provided mainly mechanical energy for mills. And we can even say that for over 2000 years the hydraulic wheel did not see much evolution. It must noted that the power generated by a water wheel is limited to the size of the wheel that can be built and to the mass of water that can be displaced, which depend on the width of the water fall and the height of the wheel itself.
The US Corps of Engineers that regulates rivers and lakes waterways was created in 1775.  By 1881 Nigara Falls were powering city lights. By 1886 the US and Canada had about 45 water powered electric plants.
Today’s hydroelectric plants still use the same basic principles as the historical waterwheel with some variations. The hydraulic turbines of today are essentially, like the ancient wheels, a motor.
At this time, hydroelectricity represents roughly 19% of all electricity produced in the world.
To produce electricity, large quantities of water and steady flow are needed. Many countries invested in construction of dams during the 50′s, to provide the water needed to supply the plants that made electricity. Water was stopped and released at will or according to needs. To ensure a constant water supply, some dams have installed recovery and pumping systems so the water released can be used again.
As already stated some take issue with the use of hydroelectricity, they claim that the release of methane gas poses a problem for fish and aquatic plants on both sides of the dam. Oftentimes the construction of a dam cause the natural flow of water to be diverted, the nutrient rich silt which helps crops grow could be affected. This alteration of the eco-system is what happened when the Aswan Dam was completed in Egypt.
Given the bigger picture, it is possible to repair or counteract the negative effects of building dams, and it important to remember that power produced from hydroelectric plants do not generate any emissions or waste. And no matter how we look at it, it is a cleaner source of energy than burning fossil fuels.
Sea water is another option to produce hydroelectric power. Known as wave power or wave energy it uses changes in air levels of sealed chambers to power turbines. When a wave rises into a chamber, the rising water pushes the air out which then causes a generator to turn. Once the wave goes down, air flows into the turbine and back into the chamber.
These chambers are kept afloat on the ocean and produce electricity in varied quantities. They are found on the western coasts of Scotland, in northern Canada, southern Africa, Australia, and the northwestern coasts of the United States. Often times these are smaller systems that do not produce large quantities of power and serve to provide enough electricity to aliment a warning buoy or a small light house.
Tidal energy can also be used. When a tide approaches, water is trapped in reservoirs behind dams. When the tide drops, the water behind the dam is released to produce power similar to a hydroelectric power plant. This is limited as tides need to be at least 16 feet, and only a few places on the planet can do that.
Lastly, we must talk about ocean thermal energy. A system where power is based on the different temperatures in the water. There must a difference of at least 38 degrees Fahrenheit between the warmer surface water and the colder deep ocean water. This technology is still in trial stages, in place like Japan and Hawaii.

how to build a homemade solar panel

how to build a solar panel at home today

Wind power has appeared as one of the best systems of using the Earth's naturally occuring resources to supply a clean kind of power that doesn't damage the environment. As oil costs continue to rise and pressure mounts to economize on carbon emissions, the advantages of wind energy and other alternative power sources are getting more clear. According to professionals, wind power could meet 10 % of the Earth's electricity inside twenty years, whether or not the quantity of electricity used doubled.
Currently the every year rate of growth of wind energy is more than forty p.c. and it should shortly supply electricity to a hundred million people across the planet. Europe is now the world figurehead when it comes to wind energy with Germany and Spain providing the most electricity thru wind energy. The US is 3rd on the list, followed by India and Denmark. This cheap and clean energy source is still only getting used to a small part of its potential.

This is probably going to change in the following few years for a variety of reasons.

Wind energy is clean The real benefit of wind power is that it is clean. There is not any smoke, no smoke, no fog and no soiled air for us to breath. A turbine simply harnesses the energy of the wind and produces electricity without manufacturing any waste in any way. Wind power can produce electricity that may be fed directly to homes and factories, replacing the power supplied by major power plants. Today, power plants are among the largest polluters in the U. S. This is the same of planting one square mile of forest. And that's's just from one turbine, think what 100 turbines will do to help save our world. Wind power is inexpensive Wind is free so wind energy is cheap. Wind power is a comparatively state-of-the-art technology and at the outset it was sort of a dear power source. Developments in the technology implies costs have reduced seriously and continue to fall. In the meantime, the price of power provide by traditional fuels is going up so wind energy is probably going to become the least dear for of electricity in the future.

And once it becomes the least dear, we should be expecting to see a heavy rise in the amount of wind farms in the US. Wind energy is local Wind is everywhere so there is the potential to build wind farms anywhere.

Naturally, some areas are a lot better than others for harnessing wind power but the ability to have wind energy as a local power source is a real and. It can save on miles and miles of wiring, provide roles and investment in local areas, and often boost local economies. It makes for a cleaner environment that suggests fitter folk and less air pollution-related medical issues. It may be established quickly, reasonably and simply to supply a reliable source of energy in a relatively short space of time. With global leaders now developing a new agreement on the way that the world is going to take on global warming, a number of major changes can be forecast in the world's energy supply. A move to greener, cleaner power sources is inescapable. This signals a busy future for wind energy. Now we have hardly scratched the outer layer of this good resource.

in the USA, wind power supplies less than 1 percent of the state's total electricity wants. There is the potential to have 60 % of electricity supplied by wind energy, and the figures are similar on a world scale. So, in the approaching years we are doubtless going to see the amount of wind farms around the world rocket as more states harness this clean and inexpensive source of electricity.

But i can give you a secret: how to build a solar panel at home

The fact of the case is that there are solar battery chargers out there that recharge cellular phonephone batteries. There are several different sorts and types of solar cell phonephone chargers. The public think about huge solar cells on roofs when they believe about anything solar that charges anything.

Sugar can make electricity?

(Photo: Parrhestiastes)

It's not exactly sugar juice, but the sugar cane fiber left over after the juice is extracted, which is burned to make electricity. The fiber is called bagasse, and is being used in cogeneration power plants. Once it dries, it is burned in boilers to make steam. The steam is used to create electricity. Emissions from burning bagasse are lower than for burning fossil fuels.
In Florida, a sugar mill facility called Florida Crystals powers their business operation and 60,000 homes with electricity generated from burning bagasse (and wood waste when it is not sugar cane season).
The reason sugar cane can be used to make sugar and generate electricity is that it is very efficient in converting sunlight into energy. Florida Crystals estimates it saves hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon emissions by burning bagasse to run its facility, rather than fossil fuels. It is one of the largest sugar producers in the U.S. and runs the largest biomass plant in North America.
Sugar cane production is a large industry in Brazil, and it uses bagasse power plants to provide about 3 percent of the country's electrical consumption. An estimate has stated that number could be increased to 15 percent by 2020.
Just last February, a deal was struck to begin construction of a 40 megawatt bagasse fueled power plant in Brazil. Other countries are using sugar cane fiber also. Kenya reportedly has the potential of producing 300 megawatts of electricity from bagasse. Currently it is producing 38MW.
A megawatt is one million watts. One megawatt could power between 400 and 900 homes depending on consumption rates.

How To Make Electricity

ne of man’s greatest discovery: electricity! It was instrumental in the building of new civilizations. First came Benjamin Franklin flying his kite in a storm who in 1752, proved his idea that lightning was really a stream of electrified air. Today we call that plasma. Then came Micheal Farraday who in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin, discovered that electricity could be produced, if a magnet could move inside a coil. He gave us the first electric motor and can be credited as the father of electricity. Then of course huge steps were taken when Thomas Edison gave us the first light bulb. Today we use large amounts of electricity and most of it comes from these sources: fossils fuels, water, wind, and nuclear fission. In this article we will explore

how electricity is made

from different methods of electricity production. Electricity is made when an enormous turbine moves a large magnet around a very large wire. This movement causes to electrify the wire. The electricity produced is then pushed away from this generator through special transformers. This large wire can be 20 feet in diameter, 5o feet long and weigh over 50 tons. It is clear to see that it takes a lot of energy to move these turbines. That in fact producing the wonderful electric energy that we use in our homes is essentially not producing new energy but converting one energy into another called electricity. Where does the energy that we use to convert to electricity come from? The most common method of producing electricity is to convert thermal energy to electrical energy. We can get thermal energy in different ways.
Electricity is made by burning fossil fuels: The blades of a turbine are driven by water, and steam. Water is heated in a very large furnace by burning fossil fuels which in turn produces steam to rotate the turbine. This method which relies on natural resources, releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and creates pollution. Alternate methods of electricity production should then be investigated to seek long-term benefits. According to Wikipedia the world annual energy consumption, produced from fossil fuels was increasing at the rate of 2.3%. The two largest consumers are the United States and China. Climate changes, which are largely thought to be linked to carbon dioxide emissions, are the impetus behind the world movement to change our behavior and consumption of fossil fuels . At this time we still get about 85% of our energy from this inefficient and polluting method of producing electricity.
Electricity is made by using energy from moving water: You must have heard how dams are constructed to produce electricity. When water is used in the creation of electricity, it is made to fall on the blades of a turbine, causing it to turn. Incredibly large amounts of water are required to accomplish this and it can be obtained from a reservoir or a lake. The body of water must be located higher than the turbine in order to turn its enormous blades. Electricity generated this way helps control air pollution; but causes deterioration of ecosystems found in the water bodies. 90 percent of the world’s electricity generated through renewable resources can be said to rely on water. Producing energy through the use of water is referred to as hydropower. This form of energy has been exploited for centuries, first by the Greeks, and the Romans who built large aqueducts to not only provide usable water but to move wheels to grind flower. In the 19th century it became an easily available source of energy to produce electricity. Niagara Falls was one of the first cities illuminated by street lamps in 1881, these lights were produced by hydropower. In 1882 the town of Appleton in Wisconsin was the site of the first hydroelectric plant. Hydropower is a renewable energy source and in some ways the only one that is competitive with fossil fuels.
Electricity is made by using the energy of wind: Wind energey can also be converted to electrical energy, that is electricity. Turning the turbines can be accomplished by using wind power. Wind farms can churn up enormous amounts of wind energy. The energy that turbine generators get from the wind varies when the wind’s energy varies, thus the electricity produced also varies. Wind energy has advanced in latter years, and today we can even say that wind energy is an instrument in the creation of portable cell phone chargers. Wind energy is still far behind fossil fuels and hydropower as a source of electricity production. While it use is on the increase and some countries like Denmark are big producers and users of this form of energy, it only accounts for 1% of the world’s electricity production. Like water energy, wind energy is a renewable source.
Electricity is made from nuclear fission: Nuclear fission does not only make atom bombs, it can also be instrumental in the production of electricity. Nuclear fission also called nuclear energy is used to create steam to turn the turbines. When nuclear power is used, the element uranium is split apart by neutrons, it causes a chain reaction that creates heat energy. The heat energy is applied to water, steam is released and used to turn a turbine that creates electricity.
Electricity is made from bio-waste: We have made some technological advancements since our early days of electricity production, today electricity is also being produced by bio-waste. Bio-gas typically produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen, is way of generating electricity in rural areas in countries like India. The State of Bihar in India, is using a new technology that facilitate the production of electricity by using human waste. Make electricity at home with solar and wind energy to eliminate your power bill.
Electricity is made by converting solar energy : Solar electricity is made by converting sunlight energy into electricity using the photo voltaic effect of solar panels. This can be done by large power plants or by small systems as found on people’s homes.

How To Save Energy

In the 21st century, the average energy consumption and related prices not only continues to rise, but are also viewed as a mundane occurrence. Something that is part of our modern life, and is accepted as a necessary evil. It is a very bad situation, as if the trend continues, prices could really go through the roof as it did last year with gas prices. Taxes and new regulations will also cause prices to go up.
Faced with this situation, a simple solution exist: we must cut back and save energy. Is it hard to do? Not in the least, it is however important to develop new habits

How to save energy on Lights:
How to save about 68% on your usual average bill!
First, you can turn out the lights when you leave a room. It sound commonplace, but it is absolutely not.
Second, avoid halogen lights. A 500 watts halogen light consumes the equivalent energy of 23 incandescent bulbs.
Third, try to replace your incandescent bulbs with energy efficient lights. They are a little more expensive to buy, but allow you to save 53 kilowatt/hour every year and last about 4 times as long.
Computers, TVs, and other electronics
People have two misconceptions, first they believe that you cannot save on these devices, and second that they consume almost nothing. These two notions are both false. You can save simply by turning them off instead of keeping them on stand-by. To give you an idea, a VCR or DVD player in stand-by mode 97% of the time, uses on the average 120kwh, while the same device turned off when not in use consumes 20 kwh. It is true that some appliances do not have a setting other than stand-by, you can remedy this by plugging it into a power strip which can be turned off.
Finally, you should know that another myth that some people want to cling to, is indeed a fallacy, appliance do not wear quicker, simply because you turn them off.
How to save energy on transportation
Here is another area where you can affect some real savings.
First, as much and as often as possible, use public transportation if available.
Second, avoid using the car or the motorcycle for short distances, a third of a mile (500 meters) is only a 6 minutes walk. Consider that you vehicle uses 50% more gas during the first half mile and 25% more during the second half of a mile.
Third, practice good maintenance on your engine, because a poorly tuned and maintained vehicle uses more gas. This will also make it last longer.
Fourth, do not speed, excessive speed increases your consumption by about 40%.
How to save energy on heating
In this rubric there are two things to consider doing. First do not open windows without knowing the actual temperature. It is important to set the temperature accurately. Second, if you are going away for a few days, lower or even turn off (depending on seasons and locations) the heating system.
How to save energy on cooling
Refrigerators and freezers represent 35% of your electricity bills. So to prevent you from suffering cardiac arrest every time you open your bill follow the advice given here.
First, choose the location of your appliances carefully. Place them as far as possible from an appliance producing heat (ovens, microwaves ect…) If you have a ventilated garage, it is an ideal place for a fridge or a freezer.
Second, follow the manufacturer advice to set the temperature (around 40 degrees Fahrenheit for a refrigerator, and around 0 degree Fahrenheit for a freezer.
Third, always close the refrigerator door. It may not seem like much, but it can be a great saving that can be accomplished easily.
Fourth, do not store food that is still hot in the refrigerator, and cover the food that you put in, to prevent frost from forming on the back of your appliance.
How to save energy on laundry and dishwashing
When it comes to washing machines and dishwashers once more great savings can be realized.
First, do not use them half empty. Wait until you have a full load before running the appliance. If your appliance is programmable, follow the manufacturer directions to maximize savings.
Second, if you have any possibility to dry your laundry in open air do so. Dryers are energy hogs, therefore should be avoided if at all possible. The same goes for the dishwasher, do not over use pre-wash and drying settings that can be totally skipped as they only waste a lot of energy. You can rinse your dishes manually before putting them in the dishwasher and they do not need heat to dry.
Third, if you can, or if you need to replace your appliances, be sure to choose energy efficient ones.
How to save energy on water
You can even save money on your water bills.
To begin with, check out all the possible drips that you might find in you home. Small, unobtrusive water drips can amount for 20% of your consumption. Then consider little investments that can generate great savings. Changing the water tank on your toilets for water saving ones could save you almost 2 gallons with every flush. Remember also that dishwashers and washing machines that save electricity manage water consumption economically.

How to make electricity with magnets for free

Do you know how to make free electricity with magnets? It is possible to make free electricity with a magnetic motor a.k.a. magnet motor. This type of motor uses the power of magnets to induce rotation to a shaft. Connecting this shaft to an electricity generator will produce a certain amount of electricity.

Why is this electricity free?

Beside the low cost of building this device, there are no variables cost to make it run. This magnet motor uses the power of magnets and magnetic forces as the only input source of energy to the system. It doesn’t need any other source of energy to make it run. It is independent.

Some people refer to this kind of device as a perpetual motion motor; a machine that runs indefinitely and produces a larger amount of energy than it consumes. It runs by itself, without having to need an other source of power. The result is free motion converted to electricity.

How to build a magnet motor?

The best kept secret about the conception of a magnet motor evolves around the proper positioning and the size of the magnets used. The key principle is that magnets are polarized with one end positive and the other one negative. Placing to magnets of the same polarity close to each other will create a magnetic force that will repulse them and induce motion. Organising this motion to repeat by itself creates perpetual motion. Using the energy produced as the power source of an electric generator makes free electricity.

Searching plans on the web will get you thousands of different ways to make a magnet motor. Most of them are just experiments or show how to produce just enough electricity to light a bulb. Only a few websites will propose a tested and proven method to build a magnet motor powerful enough to supply a house or an RV. This is the kind of practical results we are all looking for. You could save a lot of money by learning how to make free electricity with magnets.

Magnetism

Magnetism is a property of matter, like density or luster are properties of matter.  Magnetism depends upon the type of material being used.  Materials like iron, cobalt, and nickel are great for magnetism. 

Basically, for a material to be magnetic, the electrons in the metal just need to line up and face the same direction.  This is called a magnetic domain.  If they do this and hold their position, then they create a force of magnetic attraction.  There is an area around a magnet where the force exists, and that is called the magnetic field. 

There are two ends of a magnet.  If you think of the electrons as people, it makes some sense.  If all the people line up facing one direction, then all the fronts are facing one way and all the backs are facing the other way.  In a magnet, these differences are called magnetic poles.  Poles of like charge repel, whereas poles of opposite charge attract.  This is because the electrons want to face the same direction, so if you make two parts face each other, they push away.

You can create a temporary magnet, called an electromagnet, by using electricity and magnetism together.  If you put a conductor inside a coiled wire, when you put current through the wire, the conductor will temporarily become a magnet.  It’s really easy to do.  The electrons going through the coil of wire have an effect on the conductor in the middle and that makes the electrons face the same direction.  When you stop the electricity, then the electrons go back to their regular places and the magnet stops being a magnet. 

Some devices, like a maglev train, work on electromagnets.  For a maglev train, there are massive electromagnets that keep the train hovering in the air.  This gets rid of friction that usually exists between the wheels and the rails.  Maglev trains can go super fast!  They are expensive to build and maintain, though, so it will be a while before they’re everywhere.

To create an electromagnet, you need to have electricity, which is the flow of electrons through a conductor.  You can create a flow of electricity using alternating current or direct current.  Direct current was invented first, and it’s the kind of energy that a battery creates.  The energy comes out one side and always goes through the circuit and into the other end of the battery.  This is fine for small amounts of energy, but something more complicated is needed for bigger things. 

Alternating current was invented later and if you think about the name, it’s pretty simple.  The current alternates.  It’s that easy.  The electricity goes in one way for a bit, then it changes direction and comes back.  This allows more energy to go through a circuit.  It’s like brushing your teeth; you clean off more if you brush back and forth than if you just brush forward.

Electricity can be used to move things.  But moving things can also be used to create electricity.  A motor in a car, for instance, uses energy from a battery to make mechanical energy, which eventually lets a car move.  On the other hand, you can turn a hand crank using mechanical energy in order to generate electricity.  Generate?  Yes!  It’s called a generator when you use mechanical energy to make electrical energy.

There are also devises called transformers that use coiled wires to increase the voltage in a circuit.  It’s like making a fort in the snow and then you want it bigger so you add more snow.  A transformer changes the amount of voltage.  Power lines carry a very high current through the neighborhood, but if that energy reached your house, your house might be in danger!  A transformer reduces the current reaching your house so you’re safe.

Finally, we know that insulators stop electricity (like a red traffic light), resistors slow down electricity (like a yellow light) and conductors let electricity flow freely (like a green light).  But all materials have some resistance, except for a superconductor, which is a special type of conductor that has practically no resistance!  You can get a lot of electricity through with one.

Electricity 2

Electricity

Electricity

If you've ever sat watching a thunderstorm, with mighty lightning bolts darting down from the sky, you'll have some idea of the power of electricity. A bolt of lightning is a sudden, massive surge of electricity between the sky and the ground beneath. The energy in a single lightning bolt is enough to light 100 powerful lamps for a whole day or to make a couple of hundred thousand slices of toast!
Electricity is the most versatile energy source that we have; it is also one of the newest: homes and businesses have been using it for not much more than a hundred years. Electricity has played a vital part of our past. But it could play a different role in our future, with many more buildings generating their own renewable electric power using solar cells and wind turbines.

What is electricity?

Electricity is a type of energy that can build up in one place or flow from one place to another. When electricity gathers in one place it is known as static electricity (the word static means something that does not move); electricity that moves from one place to another is called current electricity.

Static electricity

Static electricity often happens when you rub things together. If you rub a balloon against your jumper 20 or 30 times, you'll find the balloon sticks to you. This happens because rubbing the balloon gives it an electric charge (a small amount of electricity). The charge makes it stick to your jumper like a magnet, because your jumper gains an opposite electric charge. So your jumper and the balloon attract one another like the opposite ends of two magnets.
Have you ever walked across a nylon rug or carpet and felt a slight tingling sensation? Then touched something metal, like a door knob or a faucet, and felt a sharp pain in your hand? That is an example of an electric shock. When you walk across the rug, your feet are rubbing against it. Your body gradually builds up an electric charge, which is the tingling you can sense. When you touch metal, the charge runs instantly to Earth—and that's the shock you feel.
Lightning is also caused by static electricity. As rain clouds moved through the sky, they rub against the air around them. This makes them build up a huge electric charge. Eventually, when the charge is big enough, it leaps to Earth as a bolt of lightning. You can often feel the tingling in the air when a storm is brewing nearby. This is the electricity in the air around you.

Two kinds of static electricity

Electricity is caused by electrons, the tiny particles that "orbit" around the edges of atoms, from which everything is made. Each electron has a small negative charge. An atom normally has an equal number of electrons and protons (positively charged particles in its nucleus or centre), so atoms have no overall electrical charge. A piece of rubber is made from large collections of atoms called molecules. Since the atoms have no electrical charge, the molecules have no charge either – and nor does the rubber.
Suppose you rub a balloon on your jumper over and over again. As you move the balloon back and forward, you give it energy. The energy from your hand makes the balloon move. As it rubs against the wool in your jumper, some of the electrons in the rubber molecules are knocked free and gather on your body. This leaves the balloon with slightly too few electrons. Since electrons are negatively charged, having too few electrons makes the balloon slightly positively charged. Your jumper meanwhile gains these extra electrons and becomes negatively charged. Your jumper is negatively charged, and the balloon is positively charged. Opposite charges attract, so your jumper sticks to the balloon.
Photo: A classic demonstration of static electricity you may have seen in your school. When this girl touches the metal ball of a Van der Graaf static electricity generator, she receives a huge static electric charge and her hair literally stands on end! Each strand of hair gets the same static charge and like charges repel, so her hairs push away from one another. Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories/US Department of Energy.

Current electricity

When electrons move, they carry electrical energy from one place to another. This is called current electricity or an electric current. A lightning bolt is one example of an electric current, although it does not last very long. Electric currents are also involved in powering all the electrical appliances that you use, from washing machines to flashlights and from telephones to MP3 players. These electric currents last much longer.
Have you heard of the terms potential energy and kinetic energy? Potential energy means energy that is stored somehow for use in the future. A car at the top of a hill has potential energy, because it has the potential (or ability) to roll down the hill in future. When it's rolling down the hill, its potential energy is gradually converted into kinetic energy (the energy something has because it's moving).
Static electricity and current electricity are like potential energy and kinetic energy. When electricity gathers in one place, it has the potential to do something in the future. Electricity stored in a battery is an example of electrical potential energy. You can use the energy in the battery to power a flashlight, for example. When you switch on a flashlight, the battery inside begins to supply electrical energy to the lamp, making it give off light. All the time the light is switched on, energy is flowing from the battery to the lamp. Over time, the energy stored in the battery is gradually turned into light (and heat) in the lamp. This is why the battery runs flat.

Electric circuits

For an electric current to happen, there must be a circuit. A circuit is a closed path or loop around which an electric current flows. A circuit is usually made by linking electrical components together with pieces of wire cable. Thus, in a flashlight, there is a simple circuit with a switch, a lamp, and a battery linked together by a few short pieces of copper wire. When you turn the switch on, electricity flows around the circuit. If there is a break anywhere in the circuit, electricity cannot flow. If one of the wires is broken, for example, the lamp will not light. Similarly, if the switch is turned off, no electricity can flow. This is why a switch is sometimes called a circuit breaker.
You don't always need wires to make a circuit, however. There is a circuit formed between a storm cloud and the Earth by the air in between. Normally air does not conduct electricity. However, if there is a big enough electrical charge in the cloud, it can create charged particles in the air called ions (atoms that have lost gained some electrons). The ions work like an invisible cable linking the cloud above and the air below. Lightning flows through the air between the ions.

How electricity moves

Materials such as copper metal that conduct electricity (allow it to flow freely) are called conductors. Materials that don't allow electricity to pass through them so readily, such as rubber and plastic, are called insulators. What makes copper a conductor and rubber an insulator?
A current of electricity is a steady flow of electrons. When electrons move from one place to another, round a circuit, they carry electrical energy from place to place like marching ants carrying leaves. Instead of carrying leaves, electrons carry a tiny amount of electric charge.
Electricity can travel through something when its structure allows electrons to move through it easily. Metals like copper have "free" electrons that are not bound tightly to their parent atoms. These electrons flow freely throughout the structure of copper and this is what enables an electric current to flow. In rubber, the electrons are more tightly bound. There are no "free" electrons and, as a result, electricity does not really flow through rubber at all. Conductors that let electricity flow freely are said to have a high conductance and a low resistance; insulators that do not allow electricity to flow are the opposite: they have a low conductance and a high resistance.
For electricity to flow, there has to be something to push the electrons along. This is called an electromotive force (EMF). A battery or power outlet creates the electromotive force that makes a current of electrons flow.

Electromagnetism

Electricity and magnetism are closely related. You might have seen giant steel electromagnets working in a scrapyard. An electromagnet is a magnet that can be switched on and off with electricity. When the current flows, it works like a magnet; when the current stops, it goes back to being an ordinary, unmagnetised piece of steel. Scrapyard cranes pick up bits of metal junk by switching the magnet on. To release the junk, they switch the magnet off again.
Electromagnets show that electricity can make magnetism, but how do they work? When electricity flows through a wire, it creates an invisible pattern of magnetism all around it. If you put a compass needle near an electric cable, and switch the electricity on or off, you can see the needle move because of the magnetism the cable generates. The magnetism is caused by the changing electricity when you switch the current on or off.
Picture: Feel the attraction! A magnet can be used to make electricity. Picture courtesy of NASA. This is how an electric motor works. An electric motor is a machine that turns electricity into mechanical energy. In other words, electric power makes the motor spin around—and the motor can drive machinery. In a washing machine, an electric motor spins the drum; in an electric drill, an electric motor makes the drill bit spin at high speed and bite into the material you're drilling. An electric motor is a cylinder packed with magnets around its edge. In the middle, there's a core made of iron wire wrapped around many times. When electricity flows into the iron core, it creates magnetism. The magnetism created in the core pushes against the magnetism in the outer cylinder and makes the core of the motor spin around. Read more in our main article on electric motors.

Making electricity

Just as electricity can make magnetism, so magnetism can make electricity. A bicycle dynamo is a bit like an electric motor inside. When you pedal your bicycle, the dynamo clipped to the wheel spins around. Inside the dynamo, there is a heavy core made from iron wire wrapped tightly around—much like the inside of a motor. The core spins freely inside some large fixed magnets. As you pedal, the core rotates inside these outer magnets and generates electricity. The electricity flows out from the dynamo and powers your bicycle lamp.
The electric generators used in power plants work in exactly the same way, only on a much bigger scale. Instead of being powered by someone's legs, pedalling furiously, these large generators are driven by steam. The steam is made by burning fuels or by nuclear reactions. Power plants can make enormous amounts of electricity, but they waste quite a lot of the energy they produce. The energy has to flow from the plant, where it is made, to the homes, offices, and factories where it is used down many miles of electric power cable. Delivering electricity this way can waste up to two thirds of the power originally produced!
Another problem with power plants is that they make electricity by burning "fossil fuels" such as coal, gas, or oil. This creates pollution and adds to the problem known as global warming (the way Earth is steadily heating up because of the energy people are using). Another problem with fossil fuels is that supplies are limited and they are steadily running out.

Photo: Making clean, renewable energy from the wind. Each of these giant turbines contains an electricity generator. Photo courtesy of US Department of Energy.
There are other ways to make energy that are more efficient, less polluting, and do not contribute to global warming. These types of energy are called renewable, because they can last indefinitely. Examples of renewable energy include wind turbines and solar power. Unlike huge electric power plants, they are often much more efficient ways of making electricity. Because they can be sited closer to where the electricity is used, less energy is wasted transmitting power down the wires.
Wind turbines are effectively just electric generators with a propeller on the front. The wind turns the propeller, which spins the generator inside, and makes a study current of electricity.
Unlike virtually every other way of making electricity, solar cells (like the ones on calculators and digital watches) do not work using electricity generators and magnetism. When light falls on a solar cell, the material it is made from (silicon) captures the light's energy and turns it directly into electricity. Potentially, this means solar cells are an extremely efficient way to make electricity. A home with solar electric panels on the roof might be able to make most of its own electricity, for example.

Electricity and electronics

Electricity is about using relatively large currents of electrical energy to do useful jobs, like driving a washing machine or powering an electric drill. Electronics is a very different kind of electricity. It's a way of controlling things using incredibly tiny currents of electricity—sometimes even individual electrons! Suppose you have an electronic washing machine. Large currents of electricity come from the power outlet (mains supply) to make the drum rotate and heat the water. Smaller currents of electricity operate the electronic components in the washing machine's programmer unit. These tiny currents control the bigger currents, making the drum rotate back and forth, starting and stopping the water supply, and so on.

The power of electricity

Before the invention of electricity, people had to make energy wherever and whenever they needed it. Thus, they had to make wood or coal fires to heat their homes or cook food. The invention of electricity changed all that. It meant energy could be made in one place then supplied over long distances to wherever it was needed. People no longer had to worry about making energy for heating or cooking: all they had to do was plug in and switch on—and the energy was there as soon as they wanted it.
Another good thing about electricity is that it's like a common "language" that all modern appliances can "speak." You can run a car using the energy in gasoline, or you can cook food on a barbecue in your garden using charcoal, though you can't run your car on charcoal or cook food with gasoline. But electricity is quite different. You can cook with it, run cars on it, heat your home with it, and charge your cellphone with it. This is the great beauty and the power of electricity: it's energy for everyone, everywhere, and always.

Measuring electricity

We can measure electricity in a number of different ways, but a few measurements are particularly important.

Voltage

The voltage is a kind of electrical force that makes electricity move through a wire and we measure it in volts. The bigger the voltage, the more electricity will tend to flow. So a 12-volt car battery will generally produce more electricity than a 1.5-volt flashlight battery.

Current

Voltage does not, itself, go anywhere: it's quite wrong to talk about voltage "flowing through" things. What moves through the wire in a circuit is electrical current: a steady flow of electrons, measured in amperes (or amps).

Power

Together, voltage and current give you electrical power. The bigger the voltage and the bigger the current, the more electrical power you have. We measure electric power in units called watts. Something that uses 1 watt uses 1 joule of energy each second.
The electric power in a circuit is equal to the voltage × the current (in other words: watts = volts × amps). So if you have a 100-watt (100 W) light and you know your electricity supply is rated as 120 volts (typical household voltage in the United States), the current flowing must be 100/110 = 0.90 amps. If you're in the UK you're household voltage is 240 volts. So if you use the same 100-watt light, the current flowing is 100/240 = 0.42 amps.

Energy

Photo: A typical household electricity meter showing how much electrical energy has been consumed in units called kilowatt hours (kWh). Power is a measurement of how much energy you're using each second. To find out the total amount of energy an electric appliance uses, you have to multiply the power it uses per second by the total number of seconds you use it for. The result you get is measured in units of power × time, often converted into a standard unit called the kilowatt hour (kWh). If you used an electric toaster rated at 1000 watts (1 kilowatt) for a whole hour, you'd use 1 kilowatt hour of energy; you'd use the same amount of energy burning a 2000 watt toaster for 0.5 hours or a 100-watt lamp for 10 hours. See how it works?
Electricity meters (like the one above from my house) show the total number of kilowatt hours of electricity you've used. 1 kilowatt hour is equal to 3.6 million joules (J) of energy (or 3.6 megajoules if you prefer).

Want Free Electricity? Build a Wind Turbine.

Want Free Electricity? Build a Wind Turbine.

The wind, which is free everywhere, can literally generate all the power that you would need for your home. More and more wind turbines are being used on large scale commercially to generate most of the power required in some areas.

Wind turbines produce green non polluting energy which does not cause harm to the environment. However, some complain about the visual impact of large scale wind farms, but this is another issue altogether.

There are homes or farms around the world which are too far away from the power grid, and out of necessity, have to generate their own power. From a standpoint of the amount of power generated, wind turbines are usually one of the lower cost renewable energy solutions available to the homeowner.

Diesel or gasoline powered generators are used by some, but the fuel is expensive and generating power in this way causes atmospheric pollution.

Wind power generators are considered one of the best ways to generate clean, free renewable energy . Wind turbines presently produce between 1-2% of the power required by the United States. This percentage should increase with the new initiatives and incentives which are aimed to increase production of renewable energy to lessen our dependence on current energy generating methods.

An individual can work toward the goal of using wind power to generate all or at least part of the power required for their home. Wind turbines either prefabricated, or home made are one answer to this problem. Solar panels can also be used in conjunction with wind turbines as a way to generate additional power. The fact is that the average home owner can easily produce enough energy for at least part of their energy needs.

Generating energy with the power of the wind is the future of things to come in power generation and over time will produce an ever greater percentage of our power needs. If you live in the country, and have the space, you can build several wind turbines which will easily generate more than enough power for all your needs.

Several home made wind turbines can be built for the cost of one commercially produced pre fabricated turbine using available plans. A sturdy and efficient wind turbine can be built using parts available locally from your hardware store. A home made wind turbine can generate as much power as similar sized commercial models, for a tenth of the cost. Most of the home made designs have proven to be very reliable and trouble free and have been used for years.

Even a home in the middle of the city can have a wind turbine erected in the backyard or on a rooftop which can produce a lot of power.

The previous age of wind power was in earlier part of the century when most farms had wind mills which were mainly used to pump well water. This continued into fifties when the use of windmills and generators gradually seemed to fade away. The age of post war affluence was upon us and the need to cut costs was no longer considered a necessity. And no one back then even had a clue how much damage was being done to the environment by all these power plants spewing carbon dioxide into the air.

Wind power and other renewable energy technologies are making a strong comeback as the necessity for saving money and cutting atmospheric pollution becomes more apparent. The individual consumer is now looking for a way to reduce his impact on the environment. Generating power with wind energy is one way in which this can be achieved.

Building a home wind turbine is fairly simple and would be no problem for the average do it yourselfer to complete. Plans with instructions and illustrations guide easily the builder through the job. These home built wind power generators are very simple and reliable and much less costly than commercial wind turbines. Check them out and build yourself a free supply of electricity .

Learn about wind energy and other renewable energy sources, and how using renewable energy can save you a LOT of money on your utility bills at DIY Energy.org

Electricity

Electricity

Electricity is used everywhere by almost everyone.  It is a form of energy that is easy to control and very flexible.  Most people don't know much about electricity other than how to use it.  What they do know is often anecdotal and wrong.  Government is currently making and changing regulations that will affect our use of electricity.  It is necessary to know the fundamentals in order to determine how the proposed changes will affect us and, more importantly, if they make sense.  Some of the changes proposed aren't as clear cut as they seem.  The intention of this web site is to explain the basics about electricity so that you can better understand way electricity works and why things are done the way they are.  Electricity is not magic.  It follows the laws of physics just like everything else in the universe. 

Danger from electricity is in two forms;  electrical shock and burns.  Electric shock occurs when a sufficient flow of electrons occurs through a body.  The shock hurts because it is making cells do things they aren't designed to do.  A strong enough shock can stop the heart which will kill you.   It can also cause violent convulsions which can cause physical damage.   Electricity can also cause burns.  The temperature of an electric arc is approximately 7,000 degrees farenheit or roughly the temperature of the photosphere of the Sun.  An electric arc is hotter then a welding torch.  Electrocution occurs when enough current flows through the body to interrupt normal operations.  As little as 10 milli-amps ( 10 one thousandths of an amp ) can cause fibrillation of the heart resulting in death.  Anything above that is very dangerous depending on circumstances.    If the source is household  electricity, 120 Volts, then 10 milli-amps is about 1 watt.  That's not much.  A single night lite is about 4 Watts.   Low voltage batteries below 48 volts are relatively safe as far as electric shock.  However a low voltage battery like a car battery has enough energy to burn a steel wrench in two.  Low voltage batteries and power supplies often have current ratings high enough to turn wire, rings, watches, etc. red hot, causing severe burns.   You should always be careful with electricity.  If you aren''t absolutely certain that it's safe then it should be considered dangerous.  

Electricity is invisible.  You can't see it or smell it.  It is helpful but it can also be dangerous.  Electricity is a tool and like any tool it works best when you understand it and it can be dangerous and destructive if it's misused.

All forms of electricity are measured in the same units.   Voltage, Current (amps) and Power in Watts. 

Terminology:
Voltage is referred to as "E" (capital letter e) and measured in Volts.  It is the force that causes electrons to move. 
Current is referred to as "I" (capital letter i) and measured in Amps.  
Resistance is referred to as "R" and measured in Ohms. 
Power is referred to as "P" and measured in Watts

Electricity is the flow of electrons from the negative side of a source to the positive side.   The quantity of electrons flowing is the current (Amps).  Charge is measured in Coulombs.  One Coulomb is equal to 6.25 x 10 to the 18th
or 6,250,000,000,000,000,000 electrons per second through a given point.

1 Amp is equal to one Coulomb per second at a Voltage of 1 Volt.
1 Volt is the electrostatic charge needed to cause 1 Amp of current to flow in a circuit with a resistance of 1 Ohm.
1 Amp at 1 Volt is equal to 1 Watt of power.

The variables described above apply to both DC and AC circuits. 

.We can compare electricity to water to make it easier to understand.  Voltage is similar to pressure in a water system.  Electrons are similar to water.  They both flow when pressure is applied.  If you  increase water pressure then more water flows.  Likewise if you increase Voltage more electrons flow.  Decrease either and the flow decreases. 

In order to use Electricity for anything it must do work.  The ability to do work is Power which is measured in Watts.  750 Watts is approximately 1 horsepower.  A Watt is an instantaneous amount of power.  To do work we need power for a period of time long enough to do the work.  The power over time is measured in Watt Hours.  One Watt Hour is one Watt for one Hour.   We use a lot of power so you often see power usage referred to in KWH which is Kilo Watt Hours.  Kile mean 1,000 (one thousand).  1 KWH is 1,000 Watts for 1 hour.

Sources of electricity:

The most common source of DC electricity is batteries.  A battery is made up of cells.  Each cell is limited in voltage due to chemistry.  The small batteries used in flashlights and toys are called "Dry Cells".  There are several types and they usually have a voltage of 1.25 to 1.5 Volts DC depending on the type.  1.5 Volts is the most common.  These cells are connected together and put in one package to make a battery.  A 6 volt battery has 4 cells.  4 times 1.5 Volts = 6.0 Volts.  A 9 volt battery has 6 cells.  6 * 1.5 = 9.   

Car batteries are call "wet cells" because they contain a liquid (electrolyte).  The liquid in a car battery is sulfuric acid.  Most wet cells produce 2 volts.   A 12 volt car battery has 6 cells.  Wet cells store more energy then dry cells so they are bigger.  The electrolyte (sulfuric acid) makes them hazardous

Types of Electricity

There are two kinds of electricity; AC and DC.  AC means Alternating Current.  The wall plug in a house provides AC.  DC is Direct Current.  Batteries provide DC.  The two are different in that DC has a constant voltage and AC has a constantly changing voltage. 

If you look at the instantaneous DC voltage you will see that it doesn't change  If you look at the instantaneous voltage on an AC circuit, like the wall socket in the house, you will see that it changes constantly from zero to a high value then back through zero to an equivalent negative value then back to zero.  For home power it does this 60 times per second

Circuit Types

There are two basic types of circuits: Series and Parallel.

Note that batteries are made of cells connected together to produce the desired voltage.  That type of connection is called a "series circuit" because it connects things in a series.   Series circuits allow us to 4 1/2 Volt cells to make a 6 Volt battery.  If we connected 8 1 1/2 Volt cells we would make a 12 Volt battery.

The other primary type of circuit is the parallel circuit.  To connect two cells in parallel we would connect both cells negative terminals together then connect both positive terminals together.    The voltage across the cells would be the same as the voltage acrouss one cell.  The maximum current supplied by the two cells would be twice as much as for one cell.  We would use that when the load was too high for one cell.   We can also use that to provide twice as much Power for a given time or the same amount of power for twice as long as one cell.

We put cells in prallel to increase the power capacity.  Two cells = twice the capacity,  three cells = 3 times the capacity. 
For example:  We have a battery operated light that last for 4 hours before the battery goes dead but we need the light to stay on for 8  hours.   We can do that by adding another battery of the same type in parallel to the existing battery.  If we want the light to stay on for 12 hours then we can connect a third battery in parallel to the two existing batteries.   

Voltage is increased by connecting cells in series. 
Power capacity is increaded by connecting cells or batteries in parallel. .

. 

The Energy Story - Electricity

The Energy Story - Electricity

What Is Electricity Electricity figures everywhere in our lives. Electricity lights up our homes, cooks our food, powers our computers, television sets, and other electronic devices. Electricity from batteries keeps our cars running and makes our flashlights shine in the dark. Here's something you can do to see the importance of electricity. Take a walk through your school, house or apartment and write down all the different appliances, devices and machines that use electricity. You'll be amazed at how many things we use each and every day that depend on electricity. But what is electricity? Where does it come from? How does it work? Before we understand all that, we need to know a little bit about atoms and their structure. All matter is made up of atoms, and atoms are made up of smaller particles. The three main particles making up an atom are the proton, the neutron and the electron. Electrons spin around the center, or nucleus, of atoms, in the same way the moon spins around the earth. The nucleus is made up of neutrons and protons. Electrons contain a negative charge, protons a positive charge. Neutrons are neutral -- they have neither a positive nor a negative charge. There are many different kinds of atoms, one for each type of element. An atom is a single part that makes up an element. There are 118 different known elements that make up every thing! Some elements like oxygen we breathe are essential to life. Each atom has a specific number of electrons, protons and neutrons. But no matter how many particles an atom has, the number of electrons usually needs to be the same as the number of protons. If the numbers are the same, the atom is called balanced, and it is very stable. So, if an atom had six protons, it should also have six electrons. The element with six protons and six electrons is called carbon. Carbon is found in abundance in the sun, stars, comets, atmospheres of most planets, and the food we eat. Coal is made of carbon; so are diamonds Some kinds of atoms have loosely attached electrons. An atom that loses electrons has more protons than electrons and is positively charged. An atom that gains electrons has more negative particles and is negatively charge. A "charged" atom is called an "ion." Electrons can be made to move from one atom to another. When those electrons move between the atoms, a current of electricity is created. The electrons move from one atom to another in a "flow." One electron is attached and another electron is lost. This chain is similar to the fire fighter's bucket brigades in olden times. But instead of passing one bucket from the start of the line of people to the other end, each person would have a bucket of water to pour from one bucket to another. The result was a lot of spilled water and not enough water to douse the fire. It is a situation that's very similar to electricity passing along a wire and a circuit. The charge is passed from atom to atom when electricity is "passed." Scientists and engineers have learned many ways to move electrons off of atoms. That means that when you add up the electrons and protons, you would wind up with one more proton instead of being balanced. Since all atoms want to be balanced, the atom that has been "unbalanced" will look for a free electron to fill the place of the missing one. We say that this unbalanced atom has a "positive charge" (+) because it has too many protons. Since it got kicked off, the free electron moves around waiting for an unbalanced atom to give it a home. The free electron charge is negative, and has no proton to balance it out, so we say that it has a "negative charge" (-). So what do positive and negative charges have to do with electricity? Where Does the Word 'Electricity' Come From? Electrons, electricity, electronic and other words that begin with "electr..." all originate from the Greek word "elektor," meaning "beaming sun." In Greek, "elektron" is the word for amber. Amber is a very pretty goldish brown "stone" that sparkles orange and yellow in sunlight. Amber is actually fossilized tree sap! It's the stuff used in the movie "Jurassic Park." Millions of years ago insects got stuck in the tree sap. Small insects which had bitten the dinosaurs, had blood with DNA from the dinosaurs in the insect's bodies, which were now fossilized in the amber. Ancient Greeks discovered that amber behaved oddly - like attracting feathers - when rubbed by fur or other objects. They didn't know what it was that caused this phenomenon. But the Greeks had discovered one of the first examples of static electricity (see Chapter 3). The Latin word, electricus, means to "produce from amber by friction." So, we get our English word electricity from Greek and Latin words that were about amber. Scientists and engineers have found several ways to create large numbers of positive atoms and free negative electrons. Since positive atoms want negative electrons so they can be balanced, they have a strong attraction for the electrons. The electrons also want to be part of a balanced atom, so they have a strong attraction to the positive atoms. So, the positive attracts the negative to balance out. The more positive atoms or negative electrons you have, the stronger the attraction for the other. Since we have both positive and negative charged groups attracted to each other, we call the total attraction "charge." When electrons move among the atoms of matter, a current of electricity is created. This is what happens in a piece of wire. The electrons are passed from atom to atom, creating an electrical current from one end to other, just like in the picture. Electricity is conducted through some things better than others do. Its resistance measures how well something conducts electricity. Some things hold their electrons very tightly. Electrons do not move through them very well. These things are called insulators. Rubber, plastic, cloth, glass and dry air are good insulators and have very high resistance. Other materials have some loosely held electrons, which move through them very easily. These are called conductors. Most metals -- like copper, aluminum or steel -- are good conductors.