Name: Graham R.
Status: student
Age: 7
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: Thursday, June 06, 2002
Question:
How does electricity work? All the books I found in the
library are for bigger kids.
Replies:
Graham,
I cannot explain electricity completely without getting like the books for
bigger kids. However, I can explain a simple circuit. It is not all of
electricity, but it is a place to start.
Consider a battery connected with wires to a light bulb. The battery has
chemicals inside that push electrons through the wires and bulb. The wires
that connect the battery to the bulb are wide enough to let the electrons
flow with no problem. The wire inside the bulb (the "filament") is very
skinny. Many of the electrons crash into filament molecules very hard.
This makes the filament hot. When something gets very hot, it glows. This
is how a battery uses electricity to make a bulb glow.
Dr. Ken Mellendorf
Physics Instructor
Illinois Central College
A good question deserves a good answer (or at least a good try for an
answer).
I did a web search on the term: < electricity grade K-5 > on www.google.com
and found the following "hits". The quality of the "hits" varies, and some
are more aimed at a teacher, rather than a student. However, with the help
of your teacher this should give you a start. Some "hits" also have other
"links" which I did not track down.
NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.
