Click! When you turn on a lamp, a light bulb glows. When you turn on a radio, sounds come out. But electricity doesn’t just jump into the lamp or the radio. It flows through wires.
The lamp and the radio run on an electric current. An electric current travels along a pathway made of wires.
The centre of the wire is made of metal, such as copper. Metals have electrons that are free to move. So the electrons can move along the metal. The outside of the wire is made of rubber or plastic. The electrons in rubber or plastic are held tightly to their atoms. They can’t move from one atom to another.
When the electric current is turned on, the metal part of the wire conducts, or carries, the electricity. The electrons push along the wire from atom to atom, conducting electrical energy. But the plastic or rubber covering doesn’t conduct electricity. It insulates, or seals off, the wire. It keeps the electrons moving along the wire to your lamp or radio and back again.
Picture Credit : Google
