Chillichap's World - What is Electricity? Explained in Layman's Terms (So I Can Understand it!)

Hello!

I really hate not knowing things and let's be honest, there's rather a lot of things to know out there. I've always been inquisitive and as a kid buried my head in large encyclopedias. I wasn't a nerd, just curious about life. When I reached my 30's, I breathed a big sigh of relief as the internet came along. All of a sudden, I didn't have to make multiple trips to the library several times a month to find things out or own the entire Encyclopedia Britannica (and keep it updated). 

There are still quite a few topics upon which I hardly know anything - electricity is one of them. So in asking the question 'what is electricity', I'm finding out too and I'm putting my findings down in this blog for you to read.

Well there's this thing called matter see, which is all the stuff around us including air, water, what we're sitting on and even the stars up there in the distance (matter is basically anything that has a mass). Matter is made up of atoms, which are the building blocks for everything - a bit like incredibly tiny Lego only on a universal scale. To fully understand electricity, we need to look inside an atom-this then does get a bit complicated, sorry. So I'm going to keep it simple. In each atom, there are tiny particles called electrons. Think of these as madly industrious bumble bees who like nothing better than to keep busy. When they do this, they create electricity. 

Next there's something called Voltage-this is what pushes the bees (the electrons) around. Let's think of it as  fast flow of honey. When you plug something electrical in, the honey (voltage) pushes the bees (electricity) through the wires. Have I lost you yet? 

Next there's Current-this is the flow of the bees, like a river moving along the wire-more bees make a stronger current.

Next we have Resistance. The best analogy I've seen for this is a speed bump. Certain materials such as wires, allow the bees(electrons) to flow quickly. Other material such as rubber act as speed bumps slowing the bees down - this is called Resistance. 

All that we've looked at is now bundled into one law called Ohm's Law-

Voltage = Current × Resistance.

ie the speed of the flow of honey (Voltage) = the number of bees (Current) x the number of speed bumps (Resistance)

Nearly done - we have Alternating Current (AC) - where the bees (electrons) dance back and forth wriggling like a worm

and 

Direct Current (DC) where all the bees (electrons) march in one direction like an army

Finally (phew) we have Power (Watts) & Energy (Kilowatt Hours)

Power is measured in Watts which tells how much work electricity does

Energy is measured in Kilowatt hours which measures energy usage over time.

So every time you switch something on, think of our bees (electrons) beevering away (see what I did there?) to make things work.

Thanks for reading. If you feel like recommending me for the Nobel Prize for Simplicity go ahead!

Matt AKA Chillichap