Electricity

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.

By Marshall Brain, William Harris & Robert Lamb

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.

By Marshall Brain

Static electricity happens when there's an imbalance between negative and positive charges in an object. It's when those charges get released that we feel that infamous spark.

By Sebastian Deffner

Thanks to the Faraday cage, we can control electricity and make it safer for our computers, cars and other inventions.

By Chris Pollette & Nathan Chandler

You want to learn how to read the electric power meter in your home to see if the meter reader sent by the electric company was accurate. This article will teach you how to read a power meter.

By HowStuffWorks.com Contributors

What happens when there's too much voltage? Learn about the difference between voltage surges and spikes from this article.

By HowStuffWorks.com Contributors

Scientists have figured out why some objects stick more to each other. And it's a very cool trick.

By Alia Hoyt

Voltage is how we measure the difference in electric potential energy. Learn about what voltage is from this article.

By HowStuffWorks.com Contributors