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What is Electricity/Current? How it was discovered or invented? How it creates power, heat, cool etc?

WHY ELECTRICITY CREATES POWER?? HOW IT CAUSES DEATH IF IT PASSES THROUGH HUMAN BODY?? WHAT IS WATT AND VOLT?? WHY A SMALL BATTERY DOES NOT CAUSE DEATH OR EVEN A SHOCKY FEELING, WHEN WE TOUCH IT, EVENTHOUGH IT COULD POWER A SMALL LIGHT?? CAN ANY ONE FULLY EXPLAIN ME ABOUT ELECTRICITY SIMPLY AND CLEARLY??

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  • 1 decade ago
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    "Electricity" is the movement of electrons from one atom or molecule to another. Actually, when generate an electric field you literally have billions upon billions of electrons moving. That movement of electrons creates energy that can be harnessed and channeled to perform all kinds of operations. For example, it can be converted to sound energy as in a stereo, it can be converted into light energy as in lightbulbs, TV sets, computer monitors, etc., it can be converted to mechanical energy as in an electric motor, it can be converted into heat energy as in an electric stove or clothes dryer; the list goes on and on.

    If a person gets a hold of an electric wire that has enough current going through it, the current messes up the signal your brain sends to your heart and causes your heart to beat very irregularly. Your heart isn't designed to have that signal from your brain interrupted or messed with, so it stops beating (heart attack). In extreme cases where people touch electrical wires with very large amounts of current going through them, the energy from the electricity actually kills living human tissue (necrosis) in addition to causing a heart attack.

    Remember, it's not voltage that will kill a human being -- it's the current. Current is a measure of the amount of electrons that are actually moving. The higher the current, the higher the electrical energy and the more harmful it is to human beings. Small batteries, like those you would put in a calculator or portable CD player, are very low-voltage and very low-current so the effect on a human being that touches both the positive and negative ends of the battery is negligible. On the other hand, car batteries are low voltage but extremely high current, so touching both posts of a car battery at the same time can kill you.

    There are several measurements used in electricity:

    (1) Power - the energy being produced by the movement of electrons. Power is measured in watts. The higher the wattage, the more the power (brighter lights, louder stereos, etc.)

    (2) Current -- the actual movement of electrons. Current is measured in amperes (amps). One amp is equal to the movement of about 18 billion electrons per second.

    (3) Resistance -- the restriction of movement of electrons, usually due to the medium through which the electrons are trying to move. Resistance is measured in ohms. The higher the resistance, the more current you'll need to generate a certain power level.

    (4) Voltage -- The potential difference in "charge" between one point on a battery or circuit or another. Obviously, voltage is measured in volts. Voltage is necessary to make electrons move. Think of a magnet -- opposites attract, right? Take the positive pole of a magnet and push it toward the negative pole of another magnet and eventually they'll snap together. Electricity works the same way. Electrons will only move from one atom or molecule to another if there is a significant difference in charge. Standard voltage for wall plugs in the U.S. is 120 volts (it's 220 volts in Europe, so you'd need a special converter to run U.S. made appliances in Europe).

    Does that help?

  • 1 decade ago

    Electricity is the flow of electrons through a medium.

    The organs in our body cannot tolerate a current charge of above 50 Volts (i thnk)

    Small batteries do not have enough charge to shock humans.

  • 1 decade ago

    electricity is one form of power,power is everlasting ,and it is based in the atom ,which is the basic block building the material

    in this planet.

    when the formation of this atom is distorted,by magnetic field for instance,electrons bonded to these atoms travel around this material, this flow of electrons is called electric current.

    obviously, the more electrons flow through the human body,cause more atoms ,which form the human body, to distort

    of course you dont like your brain to be dostorted .

    so electric current that matters, a battery will low current that

    is unable to dislodge electrons from your body.

  • 1 decade ago

    Seems like you are really interested in the concept of electricity ( I am too!)

    Besides searching for it at Google and all, you can check it out on the following links:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity

    http://science.howstuffworks.com/electricity.htm

    You might also get some info in Encyclopedias.

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