Hobbies And Interests
Electricity
Electricity is the flow of electrons from a power source, be that the burning of fossil fuels or more renewable energy sources like wind, tide and solar power. For it to be useful to the consumer, it is channeled through wires into the national grid system. When you then plug an appliance into a wall socket, the electricity from the power station flows into your appliance, which is what powers your washing machine, hair dryer or television.
Units
Electrons are tiny, so when they are measured, they are grouped together in mass quantities for ease. For this reason, we refer to 6.25 x 10^18 electrons as having one "coulomb" of charge. This means 6,250,000,000,000,000,000 electrons. When the electrons are flowing, to become electricity, they are measured in "amperes," or "amps" for short. One is the amount of electrical current when one coulomb moves past a point in one second.
Ammeters
To measure the flow of electrons, or the "current" as it is more commonly known, a device known as an "ammeter" needs to be used. In the ammeter, a current travels through a coiled wire, which creates a powerful negative charge. This charge has a pulling power on a positively charged magnet, which moves closer to the coil. In turn, this moves an indicator dial on a visible graduated scale. For example, a flow of one would move the dial slightly, while a flow of five would move the dial far more, because the charge in the coiled wire would be greater. If the scale is set up properly, it will read five amps at this point.
Volts and Watts
The amount of power coming out of your wall socket may be referred to as "volts" or "watts" rather than amps, and this is where the measure of electricity becomes slightly more confusing. Although the flow of electrons is referred to as amps, the pressure that pushes those electrons forward is referred to as "voltage." If you increase the pushing power, the voltage, the current flows faster, so the amps are higher. In the U.S., the main power supply delivers 120 volts, but appliances are designed to pick their own current. They do this with resistors, which slow down the flow of electrons. The power, in watts, that an appliance requires is the result of volts-times-amps. For example, a 600-watt toaster will have a resistor that slows the flow considerably, while a 1,200-watt heater needs that high current and will have a weaker resistor.