how is our electricity created?

How is our electricity created?

● Do you know the process used to create electricity? It is a good thing to know!


● Hint! (Fossil fuel, Nuclear, and Hydroelectric power plants)

● Bob is wondering if the pictures on the last slide were important. Of course! They are pictures of 3 types of power plants where

electricity is produced.

● Say Hi to Bob! ● He has some questions about electricity and will be

helping us on our assignments and

discussions.


● Bob wanted to know more about how electricity is made and how it travels to his

house. He found this cool website that could answer lots of his questions...

● (These are Wind, Solar, and Fossil fuel power plants)


● Bob is not an electricity expert and took some notes while he was watching the video. It

helped him answer some of the same questions that you will need to answer.

● Print the worksheet and read the questions before you watch the video presentation. It will make it easier to

find the answers. The whole video takes about 20 minutes.

● Click here to watch the video! http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/19720-electricity-and-magnetism-creating-electricity-video.htm

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/19720-electricity-and-magnetism-creating-electricity-video.htm


● Nearly ½ of the electricity produced in America is produced at power plants which burn coal.

● Less than 10% of our energy is produced

from renewable sources

● No new nuclear power

plants have been built since 1978

● Bob thought this pie chart showing how most of our electricity is created

quite interesting!

How does the electricity get to Bob's house?

Bob understands much better how electricity is made, but still wants to review how it gets from the power plant to his house. He has created a little diagram to make it a

little simpler to visualize:

Realizing that didn’t look quite good enough, he searched until he found a better example…


Bob's house!(and ends here.)

It all starts here...

Have you seen a box like this attached to your house?

It is used to measure the Kilowatts of electricity used in your entire

home.

Bob was impressed to see his house on the diagram and went out to see if he could see

where the power came into his house. While he was tromping around, he found a cool box that had several dials on it. He wondered if

it was important.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Electrical_meter.jpg

Have you ever wondered how much electricity your home uses in

a day? Do you use more in the Summer or in the Winter?

This is Bob's meter box. If you look at yours carefully, you will see a wheel or thin disk

turning. If your house is using a lot of electricity, the wheel will turn quickly.

How the electricity Bob uses is measured.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Electrical_meter.jpg

Bob's electric meter!Bob decides he wants to read his meter and

looks closer. He notices some of the dials are backwards. It looks like this and he is

confused.

What do you think his meter reading is?

Bob got 46,372 and realized that was the number of Kilowatt hours of electricity he had

used. He waited 24 hours and read his meter again. His new reading was 46, 393. He had

used 21 Kilowatts of electricity in one day.

If you are confused about reading a meter, the following link will help you out!

http://www.rockymountainpower.net/Navigation/Navigation1833.html

Bob's electric meter reading!

http://www.rockymountainpower.net/Navigation/Navigation1833.html

If your meter looks like Bob's, (some new meters are digital and some can only be read by the

power company), take a meter reading when you are at home today.

Also notice how fast the wheel is turning.

Are you curious about how much electricity your home is using?

If you are, this next chance for extra credit ought to be very educational...

Your electric meter reading!

Here is an assignment you can blog about for 5 extra credit points.

In the next 48 hours, observe your meter two more times. Post a blog with all 3 readings and when you observed the meter. Did the time of

day change the rate of electricity usage? Why? When would electricity usage be the smallest?

Would there be a time when no electricity is being used?


Bob learned a lot about electricity and how much his house was using. Even at night when all the lights were out, his electric meter was still busy.

It made him want to conserve a little more electricity every day.

Hopefully you have learned a little as well...

Don't forget to watch the video and turn in your notes for a grade. The blog about your meter is

extra credit.

Good Luck!


how is our electricity created?

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