current

SCIENCE electricity

Electricity and
Magnetism

static electricity magnets and motion

electricity to homes
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Electricity and
Magnetism
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 Electricity and
Magnetism
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Lightning Outside, Lights Out Inside! . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 2 Things That Use Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 3 Two Types of Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Chapter 4 Sources of Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 5 What Is a Circuit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 6 Magnets and Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Chapter 7 Science in Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
CHAPTER
1 Lightning Outside, Lights Out Inside!
Eva is setting the table for dinner. Flash, flash,
kaboom!! It is a stormy evening. Outside it is
windy and raining. Lightning flashes, and
thunder rumbles.
Mom and Dad are in the kitchen cooking. Another
zigzag of lightning brightens the sky. A loud crack
of thunder sounds right after the flash. Suddenly,
the lights in Eva’s house flicker and go out!

2
The television in the living room has gone silent. In the
kitchen, the microwave has stopped. The lights on the stove
have gone dark. Even the hum of the refrigerator has stopped.
“What just happened?” Eva asks Mom and Dad.
“The electrical storm has caused the power to go out,”
Dad replies.
“A tree limb might have fallen on some electric lines,” Mom
adds. “Or lightning might have struck a utility pole.”

3
 “Mom, you’re an electrician. Can you make the lights come
back on?” Eva asks.
“Not right now,” Mom says. “It looks like the electricity is out all
over the neighborhood.” Eva joins Mom at the window. They
don’t see any lights on in any of the houses on their block.
Even the streetlights have gone out. The only light outside
comes from the flickering lightning.

4
“It’s a good thing we made dinner already,” Dad says. “All of
our kitchen appliances are electric. We can’t do any more
cooking until the electricity comes back on.”
“Tonight, we will dine by candlelight!” Mom says. “After dinner,
we will find things to do that don’t need electricity.”
Eva tries to think of what they can do with it raining outside
and no electricity in the house. Every activity she can think of
inside the dark house depends on electricity in some way!

5
CHAPTER
2 Things That Use Electricity
Eva and Mom decide to play a game while the
electricity is off. They will list all the things they can
find that need electricity to work. They will go from
room to room.
Eva has an idea about how to start the list. She will
look for each electrical wall socket that has something
plugged into it.

SAFETY
Electricity can be dangerous. Never put anything
into an electrical socket. Only adults should plug
electrical cords into wall sockets or remove them.

6
In the kitchen, Eva spots the
coffee pot and toaster. Both
are plugged into electrical
sockets. She looks behind
the microwave and sees that
it is plugged in, too.
Eva doesn’t see a plug for the
stove. But she knows that the
stove must need electricity,
because Dad said it wouldn’t
work while the power was
out. Mom tells Eva that the
stove and the refrigerator
are both plugged into
electrical sockets behind the
appliances. Eva puts those
on the list.

7
 In the living room, Eva sees the
lamp plugged into an electrical
socket. The TV and her video
game console are also plugged
in. So is the computer.
“Mom,” Eva asks, “what about
the ceiling fan and light? They
don’t work while the electricity
is off, but I don’t see where
they are plugged in.”
“They are connected directly
to the house’s electric wires
inside the ceiling,” Mom
answers.

8
In the bathroom, Eva
lists the light and fan as
two things that need
electricity. Mom tells her
to keep looking. Then
Eva remembers the hair
dryer in the cabinet. It
has a cord to plug in.
So does the curling iron
Mom sometimes uses
on her hair.

Eva also adds their

electric toothbrushes
and Dad’s electric shaver
to her list. These items
are a little different from
the other electric things
she has listed so far. They
recharge when they are
plugged in, but they
don’t have to remain
plugged in all the time
to work.
9
 In Eva’s bedroom, she lists a
lamp. Eva has a tabletop fan
that plugs in. She also has a
nightlight that helps her see if
she needs to get out of bed in
the night.

10
Mom leads the way to the
garage, where they will
find even more electric
items. The lawn mower has
a long orange cord. The
light over the workbench
is also electric. So are all
the power tools that Mom
uses. There is a drill and a
saw. Even their garage door
needs electricity to open
and close. So many things
need electricity to work!

11
CHAPTER
3 Two Types of Electricity
Eva has some questions about what is going on this
evening. Dad called the storm outside an electrical storm.
But the storm made the electricity in the house go out.
“Mom, why is it called an electrical storm if it makes
our electricity stop working?” Eva asks. Another
question pops into Eva’s mind. “Mom,” she asks, “you
are an electrician, right? So why can’t you fix our
electricity tonight?”

12
Mom smiles. “Those
are great questions,”
she says. Mom
explains that there
are two types of
electricity. One type is
called static electricity,
and the other type is
current electricity.

Static electricity occurs on the surfaces of objects. Two

materials that are rubbed together may become charged
with static electricity. When you rub a balloon on your hair
it can cause your hair to stick out!
The electricity that appliances use in homes is current
electricity. Current electricity flows through wires.

13
 You may have felt a spark of static electricity when you
touched a doorknob. If you shuffle your feet across a carpet
and then hold one finger close to a doorknob, you might see a
little spark of light and hear a “click” sound. You may also feel a
little sting or tingle!

14
The surface of a cloud may become charged with static
electricity, too. Lightning is a VERY big spark of static electricity.
The spark often jumps between clouds. Sometimes the spark
jumps from a cloud to the ground. Danger! This is the reason
thunderstorms are also called electrical storms.

SAFETY
Stay indoors during lightning storms.

15
 Current electricity is different from static electricity. Electricity
in a current exists in wires. Current electricity connects to
homes through big wires called power lines.

16
Sometimes during storms, tree limbs fall on power lines
and break them. Lightning can damage the wires that bring
current electricity to homes. When electric current can’t reach
homes, the homes lose power. This has happened at Eva’s
family’s house.
People who work for the power company must find where the
power lines are broken and fix the wires.

17
CHAPTER
4 Sources of Electricity
Dad has found some flashlights to help the family see
in the dark house. He turns one on. He gives one to
Eva and one to Mom. Eva’s flashlight will not turn on.
“That one must need
new batteries,” Mom says.
“Here, you can use the
hand-crank flashlight.
Turning the crank
produces the electricity
to light the bulb.”

18
“There is no power in the house. How come these flashlights
work? Don’t all light bulbs need electricity?”, asks Eva.
“Yes, they do,” Mom replies. “But a flashlight is an
example of current electricity, too. The bulb in my
flashlight gets its electricity from the batteries. Things
that operate using electricity
all have to get the
electricity from
some source.”

19
 Mom explains more.
The electricity that is
delivered to most homes
and other buildings
is produced in power
plants. Current electricity
from power plants is
present in power lines.
The power lines connect
to the many buildings in
a community.

20
Power lines are connected to a house, and current electricity
powers all the sockets and appliances. The current is present
in wires inside the walls of the home. Lights and other
appliances get electricity by being connected to the house’s
wiring. Plugging a lamp into an electrical socket connects the
lamp to the house’s electricity.

21
 In a similar way, when Mom turns on her flashlight, she
allows current electricity to exist and the light to go on.
Compared to a power plant, a battery produces a small
amount of current electricity. The electricity produced by a
battery runs out. It does
not last forever. When the
battery dies, it needs to
be replaced.

22
Some batteries can
be recharged, though.
They can be plugged
in to connect to the
current electricity in the
house. Cordless items,
such as cell phones and
laptop computers, have
rechargeable batteries
inside of them.

The electric
toothbrush and
Dad’s shaver in
Eva’s bathroom
are two more
electric items
with rechargeable
batteries inside.

23
CHAPTER
5 What Is a Circuit?
The electricity is still out at Eva’s house. Mom says,
“Let’s build an electric circuit to help you understand
more about how current electricity works.”
Mom collects some wires, a battery, and a light bulb.
By the light of a candle, they sit down at the kitchen
table to do their project.

24
Eva knows that current electricity needs to exist through
wires. And she knows that a battery can provide the electricity
to light a bulb. Mom wants to show Eva another detail about
what a current is.
She shows Eva how to connect a wire to the bulb and to one
end of the battery. But nothing happens.

25
 But when Mom attaches another wire to the battery then
touches it to the end of the bulb, the bulb lights up! Mom
says, “Current electricity has to exist in a loop. The loop is
called a circuit. When you close the loop, you complete
the circuit.
“When the circuit is complete, current electricity exists from
one end of the battery, in the light bulb, and also at the
other end of the battery. A loop!”

26
“Now think about a light switch,” Mom says. “When you flip a
switch off and on, you are switching the circuit from an open
loop to a closed loop.”
A switch that is ON completes the loop in a circuit. Current
electricity can exist.
A switch that is OFF creates a break in the loop. Current
electricity cannot exist.

27
 Eva is curious. Why does current
electricity stay inside wires and not
go out into walls and all the parts
of appliances. Mom explains that
current electricity can only exist
in certain materials. Electricity in houses often is in copper
wires. And these wires are wrapped in materials that keep the
electricity safely inside the wires.

SAFETY
Because electricity can exist in water, it is dangerous
to use electrical appliances near
water. Do not go near
water with
anything that is
in contact with
electric cords
or devices.

28
Electric current can exist within a copper wire. It can not
exist in some other materials. Glass, plastic, wood, and
rubber do not conduct electricity. These materials are used
to make the parts of electrical appliances that are safe
to touch.

29
CHAPTER
6 Magnets and Electricity
It looks like the electricity is going to be out all night at
Eva’s house. Dad is concerned about the refrigerator.
Without electricity, the refrigerator cannot keep the
family’s food cold. The food might spoil.
Dad has an idea. The family has a generator that
they use when they are camping. The generator
burns gasoline to make a motor run. The motor
produces electricity! Dad plugs the refrigerator into
the generator. He keeps the generator outside for
good ventilation.

30
“Remember the power lines that bring electricity to our
house?” Dad asks Eva. “They come from a power plant
that produces electricity. The power plant uses great big
generators like this one to make electricity.”

31
 “You have already used a little version of a generator tonight,
and you didn’t even know it,” Dad says with a smile. “It was
the hand-crank flashlight.”
Eva learns more. Turning the hand crank on the flashlight
rotates parts inside made of magnets and coiled wire. Moving
coiled wire close to a magnet causes a current in the wire. This
flashlight is powered by
cranking a handle. Now
Eva understands why
the light in that flashlight
faded soon after she
stopped cranking
the handle.

32
The generator works in a similar way. Parts inside made of
magnets and coiled wire spin. The rotation produces electric
current in the wire.
Electric motors and generators both need magnets to work.

Remember that magnets produce invisible pushes

and pulls.

Two north poles push each other.

a)

Two south poles push each other.

b)

A north pole and a south pole

pull each other.

c)

A south pole and a north pole

pull each other.

d)
33
 An electric motor uses electricity and magnets to make
parts rotate.
motor with magnets inside

electricity

rotating motion

34
A generator uses magnets and rotating parts to make
electricity.

generator with magnets inside

fuel

rotating motion electricity

35
CHAPTER
7 Science in Action
A Day with an Electrician
The electricity at Eva’s house came back on during
the night. This morning she is excited because she
gets to go to work with Mom for a while. Mom is an
electrician. She is going to show Eva how she puts
electric wires inside walls of a house while the
house is being built.

36
Mom begins by
showing Eva the new
house’s electric panel.
This is the place where
electricity from power
lines enters the house.
Mom needs to attach
wires to this box and
run them to all the
home’s electrical wall
sockets and ceiling
light fixtures.
Before Mom attaches
wires to the panel,
she must make sure
the electricity coming
into the panel is
turned off.

SAFETY
Never touch an
electrical panel.
Only adults should
operate the switches
in these boxes.

37
 Construction of a wall begins with a wood or metal frame.
Eva’s mom does her work while the wall frames are still
exposed. She drills holes to make room for the wires to run
through. She pulls wires all over the house, to wherever
people might need to plug things in.

38
Mom shows Eva how
she installs an electrical
socket. She attaches a
box that holds the socket
to the wall frame. Then
she shows Eva the wire’s
white plastic coating.
Inside are three wires
wrapped together.
Mom separates those
wires and strips the
plastic coating off of
them. She exposes shiny
copper wire that is on
the inside. She attaches
the bare copper ends to
the socket with screws.
Mom is making sure that
the wiring in the house
has loops so current
electricity can exist.
Later, workers will add
flat surfaces to the walls
so that only the socket
is visible. All the wiring
will be hidden within
the walls. 39
 Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison was one of the inventors who first figured
out how people could use electricity in homes. Edison is
famous for inventing the first light bulb that worked well.
He also built one of the
first electric power plants
in the United States, and
he built a network of
wires to get electricity
from the power plant
to streetlights.

40
One of Thomas Edison’s most important inventions, though,
was much simpler. He knew that for houses to have electricity
in them, the wire needed to be safe and keep all the electricity
inside it. The wrapping around the wire had to be waterproof
and fireproof.
Edison patented insulated electrical wire. This was copper wire
wrapped in braided cotton and a rubber coating. The coating
on electrical wires allows cords to be touched without risk of
electrical shock. Safety first!

41
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