Basics of Electricity
Electricity often seems like a magical and complicated thing that allows us to do lots of different tasks throughout our lives.  Many people are scared and intimidated by electricity. For good reasons: it can kill you.  Electricity can be very dangerous, but if handled properly, it can be a useful tool in your life.  The key to understanding electricity lies in understanding how it is generated and used in the many applications all around us.

Electricity, in its basic form, consists of electrons moving across a conductive surface from one pole to the other.  Electricity travels along a path, and that path is called a circuit.  For things to work, the circuit must be complete, meaning that it must make the full circle from positive to negative.  Electricity can be a direct current or alternating current.

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For example, let’s examine a flashlight circuit.  In the flashlight, there are batteries, which produce electricity for the circuit.  The batteries can be considered as the start and stop of the circuit.  This is where everything begins and ends.  A conductor, such as copper wire, is attached to the positive end of the battery, and then travels to a switch, then to the light bulb.  The light bulb is then connected by copper wire from its other, or negative, side to the negative pole of the battery.  When the switch is on, electricity is allowed to travel from the positive terminal of the battery, through the light bulb, and back to the negative terminal of the battery.  This is a complete circuit.  The switch is just a mechanism that breaks the circuit, so you can turn the power on and off.  When you turn the power off, the switch disconnects the positive line, therefore creating an incomplete circuit, and the bulb will not shine.

So, now that you understand what a circuit is and how electricity can travel, let’s start looking at some of the finer details.  There are many terms associated with electricity, like volts, amps, and watts.  A watt is a measurement of energy.  Usually, an appliance is rated according to watts, meaning that is how much energy the appliance uses.  This measurement has 2 components, volts and amps.  Volts are the delivery mechanism for the watts, and amps are the volume of delivery.  The amount of watts is equal to the volts being used multiplied by the amps being drawn.

What’s the deal with Voltage?  You may see many types of voltage listed on appliances and sources of energies.  Voltage is just the means of delivery for the electrical energy.  For direct current, most people use 12 or 24 volts, although it is not uncommon to see 36, 48 or even 72 volt systems.  For our discussion, we will mostly be using 12 volts, as that is the most common in alternative energy setups, and can even be found in your car and most appliances in your home.

You may notice that appliances in your home are running on 100-130 volts AC.  In the United States, 120 volts of alternating current is the standard in most appliances and homes.  Higher voltages are easier to transmit across large distances, and therefore contain less line loss and better efficiency.

Amps are the standard measurement for how much energy you have stored  The actual unit is called amp-hours, as it is a function of time.  If an appliance pulls 1 amp for 10 hours, then it has used 10amp-hours of a battery.  Most appliances list their amperage draw on the label near the power supply.  It is wise to become familiar with what an appliance pulls in terms of volts, amps and watts.

Safety is a main concern when it comes to electricity.  Please heed any and all warnings when dealing with electricity.

Additional Resources:

• Fundamentals of Eletricity - Excellent description and illustrations of the concepts of electricity
• Electricty Overview - Complete overview with forumals, concepts, and good descriptions
• Basics of Electricity - Straightforward quick approach with formulas and some advanced, but useful information