How it works • Electricity comes from the
movement of electrons
• When electrical energy is added to electrons after flipping on a switch they can escape from their normal orbit and flow along a path
• That’s how we use electricity…letting it flow along a path, called a circuit
• The easier it is for electrons to break free from their pull of atoms, the better electricity flows and the lower resistance the material has
• Materials with high resistance, like the light bulb, have fewer electrons to break away meaning they have a stronger pull. These atoms shake up and heat up that’s why we see a flow from the heat as light.
What it can do
• Electrical energy can be useful when put to work to power a device.
• Electrical energy often can be converted into…
The reality of Electricity • The US is the second largest energy
consumer in terms of total use as of 2011.
• 40% of US energy from all sources is used to generate electricity.
• Experts predict a 26% increase in the use by 2030.
• The use of electricity is nearly 13 times greater then that of its use in 1950.
• The electric power grid has evolved into three large interconnected systems that move electricity around the country.
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The future of Electricity• The EIA (US Energy Information
Administration) projects annual growth in US electricity to average .9%
• Nuclear Power is becoming the best source of reliable electricity for the future.
– It is sustainable, affordable, and environmentally sufficient.
• The problem of exhausting the current method of energy production is the problem for the future.
– As the rest of the world is catching up with the US industrially, fossil fuel is becoming more scarce.
– Coal and oil are becoming limited.– Natural resources cannot sustain the worlds
electricity use any longer.
• As new technologies are discovered the method for generating electricity in the future will continue to develop.
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Advantages • In the 20th century electricity started to make a
move against standard petroleum-based fuels.
• Absence of toxic chemicals
• Electric vehicles can be the cleanest means of transportation and low pollution.
• The use of renewable energy (sunlight, wind etc) for electricity will lead to far lower CO2 emissions.
• As more people invest in “green” energy producers, a program known as net metering is growing - where individual home power sources are tied into local electric power plants.
• Of course, they help many things function and we use it DAILY.
Disadvantages• Half of the power plants used for
electricity still comes from power plants fueled by coal.
– Pollution, Large amounts of ash released, and carbon in the air.
– 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide used annually.
• It is expensive for both building power plants and producing electricity.
• There is no way of storing unused electricity that the plant produces.
• Every year 1,000 US citizens die to electrocution and electric shock.
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