I am going to start with a little bit of history to give you little basic knowledge to understand different types of electricity – AC and DC. Electricity has been discovered a long time ago. It was discovered apparently many years BC in the form of static electricity. They realized when they touch a catfish; there was a shock on their body. Therefore, that is when the notion of electricity apparently started coming about.
Static electricity happens when certain objects were charged and reacted. This leads to the study of electricity. The real first work on electricity with those calculations started on the 16th and 17th century. The more practical applications of electricity started on 18th century.
The electrification of houses and the invention of the incandescent light bulb started on the 18th century. In fact, in 1881, a power station powered a little village using electricity. A year later, New York started using DC.
DC or direct current is electricity directly flowing in one direction while AC is electricity in a conductor flowing backwards and forwards.
In essence, electricity is a flow of electrons through a conductor. It is a flow of electrons from negative to positive, which provides electricity while conventional electricity is from positive to negative.
Imagine a big water pipe. You have a pump and you have a valve that can be closed or opened to allow water through. Along the way, there is a paddle driving a shaft that moves a mill. Let us say this mill is grinding wheat into flour. You do not want to forget those pressure gauges. The last paddle would be the one measuring the flow of water in the pipe.
If we relate this to an electrical circuit, the pump will be the power source. It is not really the source because you cannot create energy. This is just the force that drives the flow of electricity. It could be a battery or electricity outlet in your house. It creates the pressure and the flow to direct water to our sample pipe system above.
The flow is called electricity. The pressure equates to voltage. Voltage is the push of electricity to flow on the circuit. Along the circuit, there are some restrictions such as the valve, and the two paddles (or appliances). That restriction in essence is the resistance. You need enough pressure so that electricity will flow through the circuit with that resistance.
If you want to measure the flow of electricity through our pipe system, you need to put a paddle or turbine inside the flow of the water to start measuring it. Likewise, if you have a multi-meter, you need to put the multi-meter in circuit.
Flow of electricity equates to the current, which is the amps.
