1. Electricity By James Ricciardelli, Alex Hancock, and Emma Dolan

2. Solar Flares Solar flares are bursts of energy that are shot off of the sun. They are sent down into our atmosphere and the energy is believed to disrupt the electrical currents sent through telephone wires. Solar flares are bursts of energy that are shot off of the sun. They are sent down into our atmosphere and the energy is believed to disrupt the electrical currents sent through telephone wires.

3. Solar flares come off of the part of the sun called the corona. It is estimated that a solar flare burst gives off 10 million times more energy than a volcano.

4. The way a solar flare affects electrical currents can be compared to a wave. Like a wave the electrical current is going through the telephone wire fine until all of a sudden a burst of energy disrupts it. This would be like if you splash a wave which disrupts its path. Its not going to stop it but it does affect it.

5. Solar Flare Storms Solar flares can mess with telephone signals and cause electrical surges which can be dangerous to your home. Occasionally there will be an solar flare storm, like In 1870 which caused many electrical fires. Scientists predict large solar flare storms which could create huge problems with electrical devices like in hospitals. Solar flares can mess with telephone signals and cause electrical surges which can be dangerous to your home. Occasionally there will be an solar flare storm, like In 1870 which caused many electrical fires. Scientists predict large solar flare storms which could create huge problems with electrical devices like in hospitals.

6. Electric Meters Electric meters are attached to houses and buildings and they measure how much electricity travels into the building.

7. The amount of electricity that passes through electric meters is measured in kilowatt hours. Each kilowatt hour you use, depending on your electricity company, costs around 15 cents.

8. Too Much Power Sometimes, too high voltage electricity is let into your house. This could be very dangerous and before certain inventions like fuses, circuit breakers, and surge protectors were invented, there were many electrical fires in homes.

9. Fuses Fuses protect your house from electrical fires by getting hot when electricity passes through them. If there is too much electricity, then the fuse will melt, cutting of the electric current.

10. Circuit Breakers Circuit breakers are like fuses, except instead of melting when too much current comes into the house, they simply shut the power off. This is why sometimes the power in your house will turn off.

11. Surge Protectors Surge protectors, like fuses and circuit breakers protect your home. They filter out electrical surges that could hurt sensitive electrical devices like computers.

12. Direct Current Batteries, fuel cells and solar cells all produce direct current. Direct current always flows in the same direction through a wire. An example of direct current is a flashlight.

13. Alternating Current The electrical current that comes from a power plant is called alternating current. The direction of alternating current, like in a light bulb, changes 60 times per second.(In the U.S. but this number varies depending on the country) So technically, a light bub is constantly flickering because the current is always changing. We can’t see this because it is too fast for an eye to see. Power available at a wall socket is alternating current.

14. The benefit of alternating current is that in the power grid, it is generally very easy to change voltage

15. Edison vs. Tesla Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla had a rivalry about alternating currents. Tesla preferred alternating current, while Edison insisted that it was too powerful. He tested this on animals. The first victims were cats and dogs, but eventually Edison electrocuted an elephant named Topsy.

16. Circuit A circuit is a loop, mainly a wire, that electrons can travel through. A circuit usually attaches a battery to an electrical device so that electricity can be transferred from the battery to give power to something that needs electricity.

17. Parallel Circuits A parallel circuit is a closed circuit in which the current divides into two or more paths before recombining to complete the circuit. A parallel circuit is used when the current through several components that need to be independent of each other.

18. An example of this is the lights in your home. The lights with their switches are wired in parallel.

19. Series Circuits A series circuit is a circuit having its parts connected sequentially and only goes in one path. A series circuit has more than one resistor. A resistor is a part of an electrical circuit that resists electrical current. It is meant to lower the voltage of currents. An example of a series circuit is a flash light because the circuit is just going one way.

20. The lights on your Christmas tree are examples of series circuits. This is why when one light goes out an entire line of them fail. A series circuit only has one path so that when one light breaks the entire circuit is broken.

21. Batteries Batteries have three parts to them, the anode, cathode, and electrolytes. The cathode is the positive end of the battery and the anode is the negative end. The electrolyte is in between the two. The chemical reactions in the battery cause a build up of electrons in the anode. The electrons try to get to the cathode but the electrolyte blocks them. However when a wire is attached to the battery the electrons are able to get to the cathode and produce electricity. Batteries can run out because the chemical reactions cause the anode and cathode to stop producing electrons.

22. Most batteries can be stored for a long time because as long as their chemical reactions don’t begin their power can’t start to wear off. Myth Batteries last longer when you freeze them. This is true because all batteries will lose a small amount of power over time. However if you freeze them the process of losing power will slow down. In the long run, it will not save you anything huge.

23. Fun Fact About 3 billion batteries are sold every year in the U.S. averaging about 32 per family or 10 per person.