Electricity

Lauren Barsamian, Chase Borisoff, and Jack Finnigan

How it works • Electricity comes from the

movement of electrons

• When electrical energy is added to electrons after flipping on a switch they can escape from their normal orbit and flow along a path

• That’s how we use electricity…letting it flow along a path, called a circuit

• The easier it is for electrons to break free from their pull of atoms, the better electricity flows and the lower resistance the material has

• Materials with high resistance, like the light bulb, have fewer electrons to break away meaning they have a stronger pull. These atoms shake up and heat up that’s why we see a flow from the heat as light.

What it can do

• Electrical energy can be useful when put to work to power a device.

• Electrical energy often can be converted into…

The reality of Electricity • The US is the second largest energy

consumer in terms of total use as of 2011.

• 40% of US energy from all sources is used to generate electricity.

• Experts predict a 26% increase in the use by 2030.

• The use of electricity is nearly 13 times greater then that of its use in 1950.

• The electric power grid has evolved into three large interconnected systems that move electricity around the country.

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The future of Electricity• The EIA (US Energy Information

Administration) projects annual growth in US electricity to average .9%

• Nuclear Power is becoming the best source of reliable electricity for the future.

– It is sustainable, affordable, and environmentally sufficient.

• The problem of exhausting the current method of energy production is the problem for the future.

– As the rest of the world is catching up with the US industrially, fossil fuel is becoming more scarce.

– Coal and oil are becoming limited.– Natural resources cannot sustain the worlds

electricity use any longer.

• As new technologies are discovered the method for generating electricity in the future will continue to develop.

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Advantages • In the 20th century electricity started to make a

move against standard petroleum-based fuels.

• Absence of toxic chemicals

• Electric vehicles can be the cleanest means of transportation and low pollution.

• The use of renewable energy (sunlight, wind etc) for electricity will lead to far lower CO2 emissions.

• As more people invest in “green” energy producers, a program known as net metering is growing - where individual home power sources are tied into local electric power plants.

• Of course, they help many things function and we use it DAILY.

Disadvantages• Half of the power plants used for

electricity still comes from power plants fueled by coal.

– Pollution, Large amounts of ash released, and carbon in the air.

– 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide used annually.

• It is expensive for both building power plants and producing electricity.

• There is no way of storing unused electricity that the plant produces.

• Every year 1,000 US citizens die to electrocution and electric shock.

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The End