Electricity is most commonly divided into two different types: AC and DC. AC power is what you commonly find in wall outlets. DC power is most typically exemplified by batteries. But where does AC power com from. Usually, our electricity will come from a power plant, which could be hydroelectric, nuclear (which utilizes radiation), or simply burn fossil fuels, such as oil, to generate electricity. Another way of generating electricity is from the sun, called solar energy.Which are these methods are renewable forms of generating electricity? Once electricity is made at one of these many forms of power plants, how does it get to your home? Usually through a power distribution grid. This is the system of towers, power lines and transformers that, if you look hard enough, you'll probably find evidence of in your neighborhood. But be careful, these systems can carry an extremely high load of voltage and should not be played with or around them.

Before we spend too much time talking about electricity, it is important to understand how it works. Electricity is the process of electrons moving from one atom to another. What's an atom? They are the smallest unit that makes up any object, material, fluid, gas, person, or any other thing. Click here to find out more. To the left is a diagram of an atom. Click on it's different parts to find out more about them.

Electricity is used to power all kinds of things, such as hair dryers, televisions, computers, toasters, flashlights and Gameboys. Before these devices can be made, however, their circuitry must be designed on a computer or piece of paper. These designs are called electrical schematics. Below are some common symbols used in scematics and examples of circuits.

Electrical Circuit Symbols Types of Circuits AC Power source DC Power source Light How do lights work? Load(resistance) Switch In a series circuit, electrons only have one path to follow. So if that path is broken, the circuit stops working, or the lights go out, as in the examples to the right. Some old types of Christmas tree lights are series and they can be quite a pain to fix if one buld goes out. Parallel circuits give electricity several paths to follow. Most light fixtures are parallel, so if one bulb burns out, the others keep burning.

Take a simple circuit parts quiz.

An important part of circuits found in buildings are circuit breakers. They keep a circuit from being overloaded. Want to know how? Click here.

So what happens when people need more power than a power plant can provide? That exact problem is haunting many areas of California. Click here to find out more.