CHARGE IT !

• Many people do not really understand what electricity is and why it works. They just know that when they need power to run an appliance or electronic game, they have to plug it in to the funny-shaped thing on the wall. Energy comes from charged particles that are moving around. If you’ve ever rubbed a balloon against your clothing to generate static electricity to make the balloon stick, or to hold it over someone’s head and watch theirhairstand up straight, you have some idea about whatelectricalchargesare.But electrically charged particles don’t do us any good unless we can control and use their energy.

• Static electricity builds up on certain materials. Other materials, though, allow electrical charges to continuous flow through them. This creates what is called an electric current. Electric current travels very easily through certain metals, like copper, gold, silver, and aluminum. We call materials that electric current flows through easily conductors. Water is also a good conductor of electricity, which means that electrical charges can travel through people, too. There is water in every cell of a person’sbody, so electric current can travel through these cells.

• If you were to gather up metal and find a way to plug it directly into the wall to conduct the electric current, it would spark and fly all over the place, and the electric current would most likely travel on through your body since there would be nothing to stop it. Conductors have to be enclosed in a material that is an insulator. Insulators do not allow electric current to pass through them. The rubber coating that you see on standard electrical cords that come attached to most appliances is covering the metal so the sparks stay within the cord and we can direct the current to the appliance that needs power. Electricity is controlled power.
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Answer the following questions based on the reading passage. Don’t forget to go back to the passage whenever necessary to find or confirm your answers.

1)   Since people conduct electricity, it can also be very dangerous for people. Name one way to keep electricity safe for people.

2) How is static electricity different from electric current?

  3)  What could happen if the rubber coating on a power cord is damaged?

  4) How can wearing rubber-soled tennis shoes prevent you from being electrocuted?

  5) In your own words, explain the difference between a conductor and an insulator.