Electricity so far

Electricity is a way to describe protons and electrons in an atom.

 So far I learned that protons have positive charges and Electrons have negative charges. This is what makes them attract and creates the electricity. The Neutrons keep them together, since they have no charge.

Electricity is AWESOME because IT POWERS EVERYTHING.

I'm still confused about how the electricity is formed.

I'm getting better at paying attention in class.

I have questions about...

• How Solar Panels work, 
• If I can take the energy out of a battery with static or something, 
• and how battery testers work.
   

(Also, why does my Wii Remote destroy batteries? I put a battery in and it's 100%, and after literally 10 minutes the battery dies out on me...)

WARNING: RANDOM CORNY JOKE ALERT!!!!!!

What did the proton say to the electron?

 (Highlight Below this line to find the answer)

Why so Negative?

 Actually, on second thought, that joke is overused. I'd come up with a better one, but I'm feeling a bit like a electron today.

AKA: NEGATIVE.

Electric Vocabulary

What I know about electricity so far is that there are atoms with different charges... The atoms have protons, electrons, and neutrons. Since opposites repel the neutrons are necessary to keep them sticking together, and not just destroy the atom. That's why Ms. Reid calls these neutrons "glue." Protons have small amounts of positive charge, and electrons have negative charge. When you rub a balloon on yourself you take all the electrons and give yourself a negative charge, creating static. Another thing I know is that electricity can go through conductors easily, but have a hard time going through insulators such as rubber. This is why headphones have rubber... To protect you from the metal on the inside that could shock you, because the wire is a conductor.

Van de Graff

The Van de Graff generator today created static electricity. It did different things depending on what was used near it... If you put a metal ball near it you can see the static going to the other ball like in the museum of science. When pie pans were put on top of it it made all the pie pans fly all over the place one after another.

I think something cool to try would be making paper airplanes, possibly with specific charges, and testing them out to see if they moved towards it. Maybe one could carry a little metal thing, and we could see if it still does the little lightning thing when it gets near it... Or maybe balloons with helium could carry a small metal ball, and we could see how the generator would react...

Insulators and Conductors

One conductor I came in contact with today was gold. Now it seems a little odd for me to be coming in contact with gold on a regular basis, but the expensive set of gaming headphones I own have a golden tip around the part you plug it in. The rest, inside of the protecting rubber (insulator) layer is probably copper, aluminum, or some sort of other light and bendable metal conductor.

Since I feel like it's cheating to have one example for both insulator and conductor I'll mention another insulator... My computer case is an insulator because it protects the inside from getting a static shock. This was an important factor in deciding which case I got because the floor in my room is carpet, and my house is full of static, especially in the winter.
 (Ms. Reid, you'd hate it in my room. Static. Static everywhere...)