What is Electricity/Electromagnetism?

What is Eletricity?

Electricity is defined as the flow of electric charge, it is found in phones, lights, fridge, etc. By using physics we can go deeper into what it means for electricity to be made. To understand electricity we need to look at the atom. Atoms are the building blocks of matter, which is everything in our universe. An atom is made up of neutrons, protons and electrons. Electrons move around the outside of an atom and protons and neutrons stay clustered in the centre of the atom. If you need more help understanding the atom go here. Protons carry positive charge, electrons carry negative charge and neutrons carry no charge, because they carry no charge it is not important to know about neutrons, as electricity is the flow of charge. Electrostatic force is a force between charges. A positively charged proton and a negatively charged electron with attract, whereas two electrons or two protons will repel. Now that we understand all of that we can understand how charge flows. When we free an electron from an atom and then force it to move, we create electricity. The valence electron, or the one closest to the outside of the atom, is the easiest one to free, so that is the one used to create electricity. We use electrostatic force to make the electron move by either forcing it by repelling it from another electron within the same atom, or attracting it with a proton from the neighbouring atom. This is all part of electricity.

What is Electromagnetism?

Electromagnetism occurs when an electrical field is made by electricity moving really fast around a metal coil. This creates a magnetic field around the coil which is called electromagnetism. This is used in many motors in things such as drills.

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