Electricity is a major force of nature. In this section, you can learn how electricity works and what its potential uses are.
Electricity completely surrounds us whether you're charging your cell phone or watching the sky light up during a violent thunderstorm. For most of us, modern life would be impossible without it, and the natural world relies on it. See more »
Electricity completely surrounds us whether you're charging your cell phone or watching the sky light up during a violent thunderstorm. For most of us, modern life would be impossible without it, and the natural world relies on it.
See more »
Without gasoline, the world as we know it would grind to a screeching halt. The U.S. alone consumes well over a hundred billion gallons of gasoline per year. Learn all about this vital fuel.
See more »Arc, Electric, a sustained electric current passing from one solid electrical conductor, or electrode, to another through air or some other gas.
See more »Armature, the part of an electric generator or motor that contains the main current-carrying winding.
See more »Battery, Electric, a device that produces electric current without the use of moving parts.
See more »Capacitance, the ability of an object or a system of objects to store an electric charge.
See more »Capacitor, a device whose principal electric property is capacitance, the ability to store an electric charge.
See more »Cathode Rays, in physics, a stream of electrons given off by the negative electrode, or cathode, of a vacuum tube.
See more »Circuit Breaker, an electric switch designed to break (open) an electric circuit automatically when the circuit is subjected to abnormal conditions.
See more »Electric Meter, or Watt-hour Meter, an instrument that measures the amount of electric energy used by a consumer.
See more »Electric Shock, a condition that occurs when there is a flow of electricity through that body.
See more »Electric Switch, a device for completing and breaking an electric current, or for changing the path of a current.
See more »Electricity, the phenomena caused by a fundamental property of matter called electric charge.
See more »Electrode, a conductor through which an electric current enters or leaves a solution or other medium in an electrical device such as a battery, electrolyt ic cell, or electron tube.
See more »Electrometallurgy, the science of producing metals from metallic ores through the use of electricity.
See more »Electronics, the branch of science and technology concerned with the nature, uses, and manufacture of devices in which electrons flow through a gas, vacuum, or semiconductor.
See more »Electroscope, an instrument used for detecting electric charges or for measuring small electric voltages or currents.
See more »Fuel Cell, a device that converts the chemical energy of a fuel directly into electrical energy.
See more »Fuse, Electric, a protective device for breaking an electric circuit. A fuse consists essentially of a metal strip or wire that melts at a lower temperature than the wire and other components in the rest of the circuit.
See more »Galvanometer, an instrument used to indicate the presence, direction, or strength of a small electric current.
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