Could you explain electricity in simple terms that we use at home?

Question

i want to understand it in terms of the gadgets we use it for. volts, amps watts. why do those 3 differ. would lightning be volts?

as an example. i plug in a stereo and turn it on. then waht happens?

any help would be appreciated. in laymans terms!

Answer 1

We take an electrical heater for an example.

It runs on 220 Volts

It uses 2200 Watts

Since 1 Watt equals 1 Volt * 1 Ampere, you can see that through the electrical heater goes a current of electrons with a value of 10 Amperes.

Answer 2

In terms of gadgets It is something due to which electrical gadgets runs.  AND

In simple terms the flow of electric charges is known as Current & the flow of current is known as electricity.

Volt is the unit of potential diff.

Ampere is the unit of current.

Watt is the unit of power.

When you plug in a stereo it gets electicity at a potential diff.(220V in India) whose unitis Volts, and in wire the current flows whose unit is Ampere and its value depends upon the resistance of wire and appliance and your sound depends upon the Power.

Answer 3

Electricity that you use at home is called AC --- alternating current.

AC works by starting at zero, ramps up, peaks, and then decreases back to zero.........and then it does the exact same thing, but in the opposite direction (negative). This pattern follows a curve called a sine wave. Depending on what part of the globe you are in, but here in the USA this process takes place 60 times per second, also called 60 cycles per second, or 60 Hertz (60 Hz). Other parts of the globe use 50 Hz.

This is a voltage that does this. The voltage is effectively the 'pressure' used to push the electrons down the conductor (wires). The amount of electrons per unit time is what's called the current, because it's likened to the flow of water in a river --- current.

Electrons flow on the outside of the wires, not thru them. Electricity does NOT flow at the speed of light as many people think. It appears to be so, but in reality a single electron takes a considerable amount of time to flow from one point to another...and this is called "drift velocity".

Power is the product of current and voltage and it a way to gauge the capacity a device can handle safely. Most household appliances are made to handle the 120 volts and roughly 30 amps when connected to wall plugs. Most will have to have their own internal circuitry, such as  transformers and so on to regulate the amount of voltage and/or current tho. You can't expect a computer to have the same electrical stats that say an electric toothbrush would.

The power rating is also a way to know what kind of cost and usage that the device will consume. In other words if you try plugging in too many things at once the devices will want to draw more current than is available and circuit-breakers will get hot from the surging current draw and cause them to 'trip'.

Also, if a device is faulty and there's a 'short', it will want to draw more current than normal. This extra current draw will also cause things to heat up, and depending on the situation either a breaker will trip (which is what you want to happen) or something will overheat enough to burn or melt something and the potential for a fire is now present.

So, it's not terribly complicated, and it's good that you're asking if you don't know. I'm happy to see someone trying to learn things....it's always a good thing and you are always better off for having done it.

Answer 4

The basics

Electrical installations are based on circuits. The electricity flows along a wire from the power source to the appliance. It then travels back to the power source again along another wire.

The flow to the appliance is the ‘Live’.

The return wire is the ‘Neutral’.

In order to be able to turn appliances on or off, we need to introduce a switch. This opens and closes a connection in the circuit. When closed, the connection is made and electricity can flow. When open, the connection is broken and electricity will not flow.

In a very simple circuit, the battery supplies the electrical current which flows along the live wire to the lightbulb. The current then continues back to the battery along the neutral wire. Whilst the switch would operate the lightbulb by being fitted in either wire, it must in fact always be in the live wire. If it were fitted in the neutral, the lightbulb could be switched off because the circuit had been broken but, because the break is after the lamp, the wires up to it and its connections would still be ‘live’. This would be exceedingly dangerous on a mains circuit since the lamp being off would give the impression that the power was off. In fact it would still be on and anyone touching the terminals at the lamp would receive an electric shock

Answer 5

In simplistic terms, think of a river. The Voltage is the incline of the river so the steeper the ground the faster the water will flow. The Current is the width of the river so the wider the river the more water will flow. Think of power (watts) as being the total amount of water to pass a particular point.

Power (Watts) = Voltage x Current.

So your computer power supply is say 500W. The Voltage in a UK house is 240V so it is drawing 2.08 Amps. (Current = Power / Voltage).

All electrical items which plug into a socket must display their power consumption on them, look at your iron, TV or microwave.

In terms of lightning this is an incredibly high voltage but very low current.

In terms of my water analogy a very wide lake (lots of current) stays still as there is no incline to run down (voltage), however a single drop of rain on the window of your house moves quite fast as it has a large incline, (voltage).

It takes around 30,000 Volts to spark across 1 cm of air. The lightning which you see in the sky therefore has millions of volts.

Answer 6

Electricity is when electrons move through something..........Electricity when electricity moves through a metal. Every day, electricians usually think that electricity is when positive electricity goes through metal, even though they know that what actually moves are the electrons. They use this explanation because it is simpler.

             In very simple terms, current is the flow rate of the electrons in the circuit. How is that different from voltage? Let's use a water tank and a pipe as an example.



In some neighborhoods you'll see a water tank raised high above the ground on strong legs. The water in this tank has been raised up there to give it pressure. A series of pipes carry the water down from the tank, under ground, into your house, and then to each sink, bathtub, and toilet. The water in your pipes is under pressure because the water in the tank is pushing down on it. This pressure is similar to Voltage. Electrons don't move from atom to atom without a reason. When electrons are flowing, there is an electrical force somewhere, pushing them along.Voltage is the pressure pushing on the electrons in a circuit.



If all of the faucets in your house are closed, no water flows through the pipes. If you open one faucet, some water flows. If you open all of the faucets, a lot of water flows. This flow of water is similar to electrical Current. Current is the flow rate of electrons through the circuit.

Answer 7

Start with a dry cell battery that produces DC (Direct Current).  The battery supplies electrical pressure (voltage) similar to water pressure.  Nothing flows until the battery is connected to a circuit (like water pipes).  The battery forces electrons to flow under pressure and the rate of flow is measured as amperes (amps).  The flow is limited by any resistors in the circuit (light bulb filament, etc.) because a simple piece of good conductor like copper wire would draw too much current (short circuit) and overheat the wire (or explode the battery).  The amount of electricity being consumed is known as power (watts) and is calculated by multiplying volts times amps = watts (P = EI).  The electric company does not care how many electric heaters you are running but they charge you for the length of time you run them as shown on their power meter as watt-hours (or kilowatt-hours, 1,000 watts for an hour, which cost about 10 cents in many locations).

There are two main types of electrical generators (DC or AC) and most homes use AC power while a car uses DC power.  DC power is like a water pump pushing water in only one direction.  AC (alternating current) is more like a piston water pump that pushes then draws back water (back and forth) at 60 cycles per second.  AC power is often more useful than DC power because it can be used to operate transformers that can step up or step down voltage (electrical pressure) as required (in different parts of a stereo, etc.).