By: Dimani Kearse Joshua hudson ELECTRO

WHERE DOES ELECTRICITY COME FROM? Power plants make electricity out of other forms of energy. Most electricity in the U.S. today comes from converting the heat energy released from burning fossil fuels-- coal, natural gas and oil. The rest is generated from nuclear reactors and from renewable sources, such as sunlight, wind, falling water and geothermal heat (see Renewable, Unit 5). In a typical power plant, a primary energy source like coal is burned to create heat, which is converted in a boiler to mechanical energy in the form of superheated, high- pressure steam. The steam is directed into a turbine, where it pushes on blades attached to a central shaft or rotor. The rapidly spinning rotor powers a generator.

WHAT IS AN POWER PLANT Electricity is produced at an electric power plant. Some fuel source, such as coal, oil, natural gas, or nuclear energy produces heat. The heat is used to boil water to create steam. The steam under high pressure is used to spin a turbine. The spinning turbine interacts with a system of magnets to produce electricity. The electricity is transmitted as moving electrons through a series of wires to homes and business. This is a typical electric power plant located in Shaw Ville, Pennsylvania. Notice the large pile of coal on the left side of the plant. Notice the three smokestacks, each one taller than the previous. The tallest stack was built to cut down on the local air pollution. The sulfur oxides are emitted higher into the atmosphere. This has not proven to be a solution to the problem. As a result the sulfur oxides now travel great distances before coming down in the form of acid rain.

WHAT IS ELECTRICITY? What is electricity? This question is impossible to answer because the word "Electricity" has several contradictory meanings. These different meanings are incompatible, and the contradictions confuse everyone. If you don't understand electricity, you're not alone. Even teachers, engineers, and scientists have a hard time grasping the concept.hard time grasping the concept. Obviously "electricity" cannot be several different things at the same time. Unfortunately we've defined the word Electricity in a crazy way. Because the word lacks one distinct meaning, we can never pin down the nature of electricity. In the end we're forced to declare that there's no such stuff as "electricity" at all! Here's a quick example to illustrate the problem.

WHO DISCOVERED ELECTRICITY? In 1752, Ben Franklin conducted his experiment with a kite, a key, and a storm. This simply proved that lightning and tiny electric sparks were the same thing. Italian physicist Alessandro Volta discovered that particular chemical reactions could produce electricity, and in 1800 he constructed the voltaic pile (an early electric battery) that produced a steady electric current, and so he was the first person to create a steady flow of electrical charge. Volta also created the first transmission of electricity by linking positively-charged and negatively-charged connectors and driving an electrical charge, or voltage, through them.

HOW YOU CAN GET ELECTRICITY WHEN THE LIGHTS ARE OUT. If you should experience an interruption in electric service, here's what you can do to help us get your lights back on as soon as possible. Call Superior Water, Light and Power at right away to report an outage. Please remember, phones that require a connection to an electric outlet, such as a portable phone, will probably not work during an outage. Phones that are hard-wired to telephone company circuits should continue to work. Cell phones will work as long as the battery lasts. Your call will reach an automated reporting service that may recognize the phone number and the location from which you are calling. Your phone call notifies a service representative that you are without power. You can be assured that line crews will be working to restore power in your area right away. If you are calling from a location other than that of the outage, please follow the outage reporting instructions on the phone recording. Our automated outage service only works with touch-tone phones.

Benjamin F. founder of electricity.