What is electricity?

Electrical safety

Electricity is a form of energy that we use in our every day lives. Origin sells electricity to over 500,000 customers in homes, business and industry.

So what exactly is electricity? No one really knows! We cannot see it, it has no weight, it has no shape, but it is everywhere.

To understand what electricity is we need to learn more about the atom, since everything around us is made up of atoms.

The Atom

Atoms are so small that we cannot see them with the human eye. They consist of three tiny particles:

• Protons - positive charge
• Electrons - negative charge
• Neutrons - neutral charge

When the electrons in an atom become loosely attached they can easily travel from one atom to another via conductors such as electrical wires. When this occurs a current or charge is created and we have electricity!