Answer 1:
That's a big question. Electricity is sort of a
big river of tiny electrons flowing through wires
and things. There are electrons in every atom,
but some atoms hold onto their electrons really
tightly, and the electricity - the river of
electrons - can't flow through things that are
made up of those types of atoms. But the atoms in
iron and other metals usually don't hold onto
their electrons so tightly - those atoms are
'happy' to to give some of their electrons to the
atoms next to them, and then they get electrons
from the atoms 'upstream' from then, and that's an
electric current.
Why is electricity so
powerful? I guess it's like wind and water and
other sorts of things that flow - when there's
just a little flow (or, 'electric current,' to be
more scientific about the flow of electricity)
these things are pretty harmless, but too much can
be very dangerous - or very helpful, if you want
to cook something in your microwave or toast some
bread, to give some examples from
electricity.
There are lots of directions
you can go with this. If you like to just think
about things and look at books and the internet,
you might ask about how wind and rivers are used
to make electricity. We have a friend in Hawaii
who uses a windmill to run his lights and his
microwave oven.
If you like to do
experiments, buy a couple of batteries and
flashlight bulbs at some place like Radio Shack
and do some experiments with how to get the bulbs
to light and how to make them glow brighter or
dimmer. You can make a wire for your experiment
by putting a strip of Scotch tape on one side of a
strip of aluminum foil. The side without the tape
is your 'wire,' and the tape keeps the wire from
breaking.
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