Electricity

Electricity is a kind of energy stored inside atoms, the minute building blocks of which all things are made. Atoms themselves are made up of particles, including electrons, which...

Magnetism

Magnetism is a force that attracts some objects to other objects. Electricity can produce magnetism and magnetism can produce electricity. We cannot see the force of magnetism. But...

Electricity and magnetism A-Z

Batteries and cells

Batteries store chemical energy and change it into electrical energy. Batteries are the common name for cells: units that produce electricity. They have three main parts: a...

Electrical circuits

In current electricity, electrons are pushed along a conductor by a battery or generator. When the current is switched on, any electrons free to move in the wire all move in the...

Electric charge

Atoms, the building blocks of matter, are made of elementary particles. Most particles carry what is called an electric charge: they are each surrounded by their own electric field...

Electrical conductors

Electricity flows in a current when electrons are free to move through certain materials, known as conductors. Most metals, especially silver and copper, have electrons that can...

Superconductors

All materials normally have some amount of electrical resistance. Because of this, some energy is lost as heat when electrons move through a conductor. But for some materials...

Electric generators and motors

Electricity and magnetism are so closely linked that one can produce the other. An electric current flowing in a cable produces a magnetic field around the cable. A magnetic field...

What is electricity and how is it made?

Electricity is a kind of energy stored inside atoms, the minute building blocks of which all things are made. Atoms themselves are made up of particles, including electrons, which...