A major reason electricity works is because of conductors. First metal, water, tall trees and tall items are good conductors because lightning is attracted to them. These materials have many mobile electrons. Metal is an easy substance for lightning to travel through so metals are good conductors.
However, rubber is a bad conductor because lightning bounces off of it. A bad conductor is called an insulator. An insulator has a few mobile electrons. It is important for us to know the difference between good conductors and insulators because if you're outside in an open field during a storm you will know where to go to be safe from the lightning. Truly, knowing the difference between conductors and insulators of electricity can save our lives.
Electricity is a type of energy found in nature.
It consists of electrons, and there is electricity in nature as well as electricity that is man-made.
Scientists have found we can make electricity if we pass a magnet close to a metal wire, or if we put the right chemicals in a jar with two different kinds of metal rods. This is called an electromagnet.
Scientists have observed that electricity seems to flow like water from one place to another, either as a spark or as a current in a metal. They now know that all matter has electric charge, but this is mostly cancelled out by the presence of matter with an opposite charge. We only see an effect when there is too much or too little electric charge in one place so that it is not cancelled out.
Since the nineteenth century, electricity has been made into a useful creation that affects every part of our lives. Until then, it was just a curiosity or a force of nature seen in a thunderstorm.
To be useful, electricity has to be made from different sources of energy such as by burning coal or oil or from wind or the sunshine or flowing water in a power station.
Electricity arrives at our homes through wires from the places where it