- Introduction
- A Magnetic Personality
- A Powerful Discovery
- Around the Circuit
- What's a Watt and What It's Not
- NC GreenPower's Electrical Connection
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As with learning any new language, it is important to start with the basics. Electricity is energy derived from the flow of electrons, which are negatively charged particles that orbit the nucleus of an atom. The world is filled with atoms. They are all around us and inside of us. Even our body is made up of atoms, which are so small that you could place millions of them on the head of a pin.
Atoms are composed of a nucleus which contains protons that carry a positive charge and neutrons which carry no charge. Orbiting around the nucleus, like little planets in a microscopic solar system, are the electrons.
Negatively charged electrons are attracted to the positively charged protons in the nucleus. This attraction keeps the electrons attached to the structure of the atom. Sometimes, however, atoms pass near one another and electrons can pass from one atom to another in their neverending search for a positively charged counterpart. This transit of electrons from one atom to another is electricity.
Electricity comes from many sources and can be found just about everywhere. Lightning is a form of electricity, with bolts caused by the passing of electrons from cloud to cloud or cloud to ground. Static electricity is another type caused by the exchange of electrons from one surface to another as a result of friction.
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