Transcript Electricity - School Links Programme

Electricity
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Electricity is energy
• We use energy to
• heat and cool our homes.
• for lights and appliances.
• run cars, planes, boats and machines
• All living things need energy too.
• plants use the light from the sun to grow.
• animals and people eat the plants and use the energy that was
stored.
• food is fuel for our bodies' energy needs, like muscle power.
• We also use our own bodies to make heat energy.
• when you have been running or working really hard, your body
produces heat energy.
• when you wear clothing like a jacket in the winter, it holds in that
heat energy and keeps you warm.
History of energy
Thomas Edison invented more
From about 1945 to the present,
Fire
was
discovered by a lightning
than 2,000 new products,
nuclear
solar energy along with
The very first energy source
was
theand
sunanother
strike,
producing
source of
including almost everything
water
and
wind
have
played a
providing heat and light
during
the day.
heat
and
light.
needed for us to use electricity
larger role in the production of
in our homes: switches, fuses,
energy
sockets and meters.
Thousands of years later we
Laterengines
wethat
began
usecould
windmills
the to
wind
be
During the 1800’sdiscovered
steam
turnto
wheels
for grinding
Around 1816 manufactured
harnessed
and
we began
to usegrain
sails
were beginning to
betoused
‘town gas’ made from
coal,
on our boats
power
pumps, machines
and for transportation.
was first used for street
steam trains. Coal was used as
lights in Baltimore,fuel.
USA
Other alternative energy
sources being used today
are geothermal and
biomass
The first public power station was built in London in
1882 which supplied electricity to local premises.
How electricity is made
Electricity is the flow of moving electrons. When the electrons flow it is called an
electrical current.
Have you ever wondered where electricity
comes from?
You might be surprised to learn that it comes
from magnets!
• In the early 1800s, Michael Faraday
discovered "electromagnetic induction",
which is the scientific way of saying that if he
moved a magnet through a loop of wire, the
wire would become electrified.
• Thomas Edison's electric generator (in the
first power station) was a bigger version of
Faraday's basic experiment; a big magnet
rotating around a wire to produce an electric
current.
• Today's power plants are bigger and
controlled by computers, but the basic
process is still the same as it was nearly 120
years ago.
Making electricity from coal
The spinning turbine rotates a big magnet
around a piece of wire & that motion
creates a magnetic field that electrifies the
wire. Electricity is created.
Coal heats
water which
turns to steam
The electric
current flows
from the
generator to
high-voltage
transformers.
The steam
spins a big
fan called a
turbine.
Electricity manufacture
You can produce electricity in all kinds of different ways
Some power plants burn natural gas
instead of coal to make steam.
A nuclear power plant splits apart
uranium to release heat energy
A wind farm uses the wind to spin the
blades of the turbine. Turbines can be on
land or off shore
A hydro power plant uses running or
falling water to spin the turbine.
Solar power plants are now in operation
Electricity from the sun 
From Power Plant to TV !
Electricity travels at the speed of light - more than 186,000 miles per
second!
• Electricity is made in a
power plant some
distance from your
home
• Plug in your TV and
electrical energy flows
into it through a cable
• The cable is much longer
than you might think: it
actually runs all the way
from your TV—
underground & through
the air—to the power
plant
Electricity moves through the cables very fast. In just one second,
electricity can travel around the world seven times.
Safe transport of electricity
• Electricity flows from the power
plant through wires to
transmission substation which
changes the voltage of the
electricity to make it safe
• The electricity flows through
aluminium and steel cable lines
held up by huge towers & called
the transmission lines
• The electricity enters the power
substation and voltage is reduced
again
• Distribution lines carry small
amounts of electricity from the
substations to houses and
businesses
What next ?
Complete the Student Worksheet
Watch the PowerPoint on Electrocution of Birds of Prey