Electricity is the force behind modern civilization. It powers everything from global phones, to stoves, to our water heaters, but it also exists in more natural forms as static electricity and lighting. Electricity in its many varied forms is the result of the transfer of electrons.
Electricity
Welcome to Electricity: Overview of what electricity is and how it works.
Electricity: Series of pages describing how electricity works and what its attributes are.
Electricity and Magnetism: Describes how electricity and magnetism work and how they are connected.
Electrical Fields: Differentiates between electrical and gravitational fields and describes the properties of an electric field.
Electricity Timeline: Timeline of the significant events in the discovery and utilization of electricity.
How Electricity Gets to You: Description of how electricity is generated and distributed to homes.
Annual Energy Outlook: Graphs and descriptions of demand for electricity and its sources.
Static Electricity
Static Electricity Activities: Five classroom activities for exploring static electricity from the Boston Museum of Science.
Balloons and Static Electricity: An interactive Java simulation illustrating static electricity principles.
Simco, Introduction to Static Electricity: Introduction to the cause of static electricity and its impact on manufacturing.
Energy Story: Article on static electricity and resistance with illustrations.
Static Electricity: Set of high school level physics articles covering the basics of static electricity, methods of charging and electrical fields.
Thunderstorms
Thunderstorms and Tornadoes: A series of paging detailing the effects of thunderstorms, lightning and tornadoes and how they form.
Types of Thunderstorms: Brief descriptions of the four types of thunderstorms with links to pages containing pictures and more details.
Thunderstorm Formation: Descriptions of the three stages of thunderstorm formation.
Listening in on Lightning: Shows you how to use an AM radio to hear lightning before the thunder, also describes why this works.
Lightning and Thunder Tutorial: A high school level tutorial of how and why lightning forms and strikes the ground
A Lightning Primer: An overview of lightning research including historical research, modern research methods and why it is being researched by NASA.
Batteries
What is a Battery: Introduction to what a battery is and how it works.
Battery Basics: Discussion of the chemistry behind several basic battery types including reaction equations.
Chemistry of Batteries: High school level explanation of how batteries work with interactive comprehension questions at the end.
Volta’s Electrical Battery: Short piece on Alessandro Volta and his invention of the first electrical battery with illustration of the original battery.
Baghdad Battery: Article on the Baghdad battery, a battery from 250 BCE.
Battery Types: Description of how electrochemical cells, voltaic cells and the Daniel Cell work.
Voltaic Cells: A description of how voltaic cells work from a chemistry perspective.
Potato Battery: Instructions for making a potato battery and an explanation of why it works.
Current Electricity
Current, Electricity, and Circuits: A set of definitions, organized by category and alphabetical, related to current electricity.
Current Electricity: Middle school level set of lessons on current electricity.
AC circuits: College level explanation of alternating current, circuits, impedance and other related concepts.
Static and Current: Description of demonstrations to show the difference between static electricity and current electricity.
The Current: Introduction to current with interactive questions.
DC and AC: Article detailing the difference between direct and alternating current.
Energy Sources
Energy Sources: Overview of all the current sources of energy from the US Department of Energy.
Energy Facts: Introduction to a variety of energy sources, geared towards children.
Geothermal Technologies Program: Extensive collection of information on how geothermal works, the history of geothermal energy in the US and futuer plans.
Hyrdroelectric Power: Explanation of how hydroelectric power works, with video. Site also contains information on other sources of energy.
Solar Energy: History of solar energy research and development and overview of how solar energy is currently being utilized.
Atoms
The Structure of Matter: A history of our knowledge of the atom and its role in the production of static electricity.
How Big is an Atom: A set of examples illustrating the size of a single atom in relation to a familiar object.
All About Atoms: Illustrated and interactive presentation about the structure of an atom.
The Periodic Table of Elements: Article discussing electron shells for atoms and how this affects an elements position in the periodic table.
Electricity and the Atom: Extensive article on atoms, atomic charge and the role of the atom in electricity.
