Electricity comes into our homes, schools, factories, and stores on copper or aluminum wires from powerful’ generators in power stations.
These power stations burn coal or oil, or use nuclear reactors or the power of falling water to produce the energy to run the generators.
Powerful loads of current come from these generators and are reduced through transformers along the way before they reach our homes and factories.
The electric current produced is a moving stream of tiny particles called electrons. This stream of electrons can be turned on or off by switches. When you turn on an electric light switch, a TV set, or any appliance, you are giving the electric current a message to begin to flow. Turning them off breaks that flow of current.
Sometimes, that flow of current is stopped without your touching a switch. This happens when the wires, or circuits, carrying the current become overloaded with too much electricity. Then, a device in your home, a fuse, automatically breaks the circuit to prevent damage to the wires or even a fire in your home.
