Electrical Expert

Today I got an email from a kid at my church asking questions about electricity for a school project.  I thought I would just post the letter, questions, and my responses.  I did lie to him a little bit though because I told him about how metals conduct electricity without using the words "magic" and "unicorn" at all...

Dear Mr. Coats,

I'm researching electricity for a project at school. My dad says you're an expert. Can you answer these questions, please? If you could respond by Sunday, I would be grateful. 

Sincerely,

Ethan

-Why did you decide to go into a career in electricity?

When I was maybe 10 years old, my dad was building a computer and asked me to help.  He taught me how to properly protect the components from static electricity (like when you get shocked by touching a door knob).  We installed all of the parts from the computer by ourselves, and then every time after that when we needed a new computer or to fix the computer that we had, my dad and I would look at the parts we needed and decide what we needed together.  I got interested from there in electronics and what it takes to build them!

-How do you use electricity in your job?

We create an electric signal and then send it down a coaxial cable (like what you use to connect your TV to the cable box).  When the signal goes all the way down the cable it bounces back and we can tell by the time the signal takes to return how long the cable is.  If the signal hits a part of the cable that is bad, it comes back sooner and we can measure where the bad spot is.  It's like bouncing a ball against a wall and then counting how long it takes the ball to return.  If someone gets in the way and you hit them instead, you know that you didn't make it all the way to the wall!

-What's the coolest thing you've done in your job?

One time I built a system to control a helicopter propeller.  It could push the plate underneath the propeller one way or another to change the direction of flight.  I have gotten to travel all over the United States and now all over the world, which has been really great!  

-Why does electricity flow through metal?

Metal is called a conductor, which means that electricity can flow through it.  Everything in the world is made up of tiny parts called atoms and in the way that metals arrange these small atoms they create a sheet of these atoms all in a line.  Then electrons, which carry electricity, can easily move from atom to another and form something called a "sea of electrons."  What we as humans do to use metals as conductors is create an electric field that guides the electrons the way we want them to go.  In computers or electronics, we often use something called semiconductors which let us control when electricity flows or doesn't flow and insulators (stuff that does not allow the flow of electricity).

-Do you think think that electricity is a type of energy we should keep using?

I sure do.  We can do a lot of great things with it like power hospitals that help so many people or simple things that we don't always think about like heating our homes and showers.

-How much electricity have you seen used at one time?

One time I toured a power plant, and I saw the furnace that they burn coal in to generate up to 600 Megawatts of power.  That is enough electricity to power several cities.  They let me put on a special face mask so that I could look inside the burning furnace and see how hot the coal was.  It was like looking inside of a volcano!  I also used a piece of equipment that went up to 50,000 volts one time.  To give you an idea of how much voltage that is, a typical AA battery like what you might have at home is 1.5 volts.

-Do you think electricity is essential or could we live without it?

People lived a long time before electricity was used like it is today, but I feel like it makes our lives much easier.  People used to go to bed almost as soon as it got dark, but now we can stay up a little bit later and get more done in the day.  We can fly to places all around the world, or I can talk to my family on the other side of the world.  

-Does electricity have any negative effects on our planet?

It does.  A lot of power comes from burning coal or diesel fuel (like gas that you use in your car).  This can cause pollution.  Now people can use what are called renewable resources like solar or wind power, and the effect on the planet is not as bad.   People are working to fix many of the problems that are caused by electricity.