ENERGY NETWORKS ASSOCIATION
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Energy Networks Association Gas and Electricity Resources for Key Stage Three Students
 
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electricity is all around us
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in this section...
electricity: resources for KS1 & 2

 

You can see it during thunder storms. Every time you see a flash of lightning you are seeing what happens when nature makes too much electricity and has to get rid of it quickly. You can even generate electricity yourself.

If you comb your hair on a frosty morning you might notice your hair standing on end or even crackling a bit. That's because the movement of the comb through your hair has made a little bit of electricity. The electric charge you have made makes your hair stand on end. You can try the same thing with a blown up balloon. Try rubbing a blown up balloon up and down a nylon shirt or jumper. If your balloon crackles, or sticks to the wall, that is because you have managed to generate a little bit of electricity. The electric charge you have made, makes the balloon stick to the wall.

The trouble is, we can't yet, use the electricity from lightening, or flyaway hair, or sticky balloons, to power all the machines and gadgets that we rely on in our homes and schools. So we have to make it in a different way.

One of the best ways to make a lot of electricity is to turn a very big magnet round and round inside a big coil of wire.The trouble is, you need a lot of energy to turn the magnet round to begin with. Imagine turning the handle on a school pencil sharpener for hours and hours and then imagine turning a pencil sharpener the size of a double decker bus round all day and all night and you will get an idea of how much energy you need.

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This page was last reviewed on: 16 July 2008 01:00:36.
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