ELECTRICITY IN PHYSICS

Electricity works because electric charges push and pull on each other. There are two types of
electric charges. POSITIVE charges and NEGATIVE charges. This means that if you put two positive
charges close together and let them go, they would move apart. But charges attract each other. This
means that if you put a positive charge and negative charge close together, they would smack
together. A short way to remember this is the phrase opposites attract, like repel.
All the matter in the world is made of tiny positive and negative charges. The positive charges
are called protons and the negative charges are called electrons. Protons are much bigger and heavier
than electrons, but they both have the same amount of electric charge, except that protons are positive
and electrons are negative. A few protons and electrons can form bigger particles called atoms and
molecules. Atoms and molecules are still very tiny. It is impossible to see them without a very
powerful microscope. Any big object, live your body, has more atoms and molecules in it than
anyone could count.
Electrically is a word meaning describing electricity and neutral is word meaning
balanced. That is why we do not feel objects pushing and pulling on us from a distance, like they
would if everything was electrically charge. All big objects are electrically neutral because there is
exactly the same amount of positive and negative charge in the world. Scientist still do not know
why this is so, even though they have been studying electricity for a long time.
Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is being used, stored or transferred. Flows
of electrically energy along powerlines are measured in watts. If some of it is converted and some of
it is stored it is measured in volt amperes.
Electrical resistance is the ability of a substance to resist the flowing of current to reduce the
amount os current that flows through the substance. If an electric voltage of 1 volt maintains a current
of 1 ampere through a wire, the resistance of the wire is 1 ohm.