ELI5
What is electricity exactly and how is it caused? I hear multiple things like it’s the movement of electrons, but that doesn’t make sense to me cause electrons are always moving. Isn’t it wave energy that travels by means of electrons?
I also don’t understand Voltage visually. I understand it’s the amount of joules in a Coulomb, but what would the difference be on a small level? What would be the difference physically and visually at 1volt to 1000volts on the atomic level?
In: Physics
The easiest way to understand electricity – even though its a bit simplified – is to use the water analogy. Voltage is water pressure, current is flow of water, wires are pipes.
The electrons want to move from areas of high pressure (lots of electrons) to areas of low pressure (few electrons.) They do this by travelling down the wire like water through a pipe.
The electrons that constitute electricity are not strongly attracted to atoms so they can wander freely from atom to atom in the “electron sea” that surrounds metal.
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