People use electricity to light their homes. Let us start with what it is and how it moves. Thomas Edison invented a long-lasting light bulb around 1879. Atoms are made of protons, neutrons and electrons. Electricity involves electrons moving from place to place through conductors. It only flows when it has a complete path, called a circuit. A battery can make it flow through a wire. Metals let it flow easily. Glass, rubber, wood and plastic do not.

Now let us look at a different kind. Rubbing can move electrons from one thing to another. That is how static electricity starts. Electric charges that are alike push each other apart. Static electricity can make your hair stand on end. Lightning is a kind of electricity too. It happens when electric charge builds up in a storm cloud and then jumps to the ground. That is lightning at work.

Now let us see how people make it flow. Moving a magnet through a coil of wire can make electricity flow in the wire. A generator turns the energy of motion into electricity. Power generation depends on a discovery Michael Faraday made in 1831. Moving water can spin a turbine to make electricity. Wind can spin the blades of a wind turbine to make it. Solar panels can use sunlight to make it.

Some rules keep people safe. If you see a power line on the ground, stay away from it and tell a grown-up right away. Never climb a power pole, or a tree that is near power lines. Never put your fingers or other objects into an outlet. To unplug something, hold the plug and never pull on the cord. Never use anything with a cord or plug around water.

How does electricity get to your house? Here is the trip, step by step. First, it is made at power plants. Power lines carry it over long distances. A transformer raises or lowers the voltage of electricity. A transformer at a substation lowers it. From a substation, smaller, lower-voltage lines bring it to neighborhoods and homes. That is the path to your house. It is a long way from the plant to the lights.

Words to know

• electrons: tiny particles
• turbine: a spinning machine
• circuit: a complete path
• generator: makes electricity
• transformer: changes voltage