The Manga Guide to Electricity

If a substance is positively or

negatively charged, it tries

to become neutral again by

receiving or losing electrons.

It tries to get

back to its natural

state, doesn't it?

By the way, objects can

be conductors, through

which electricity easily

flows (like metal)...

...insulators, through

which electricity has

diiculty flowing (like

gla or ruer)...

...and

semiconductors,

which are

midway betwn

conductors and

insulators.

Hm.

If there is an insulator betwn

a positive and a negative charge,

the electrons caot move.

Because the

electricity has

diiculty flowing,

right?

Current and Electrical Discharge

Insulator

30 Chapter 1 What Is Electricity?

If objects having a

charge are coected

by a conductor like a

coer wire...

...the negative electrons

move to the positive side.

Then the positives and negatives

unite to cancel each other

out, and the CHARGED state no

longer exists.

This phenomenon is

caed electrical

discharge.

Hm.

Electrical discharge

also ours in the air

or in a vacm.

A discharge

caneven our

inthe air?

Cuent and Electrical Discharge 31

twang!

This is what lightning is!

Lightning ours when tiny

water droplets in clouds

rub against each other, and

the static electricity that

was produced discharges

to the ground.

Then an

enormous

discharge

ours!

Since air is an

insulator, a

discharge does

not our easily.

When a large amount

ofcharge builds up,

andthere is a

dierence in potential

betwn the positive

andnegative charges...

or, in other words,

whenthe voltage

becomes veryhigh...

The insulation of the

air suenly breaks

down, and an electrical

discharge ours.

The breakdown

of the insulation

creates awesome

power, right?

It does!

But it haens

in an instant.

Hail and ice particles in

cumulonimbus clouds

coide with each other,

and electric charge

aumulates.

An electrical discharge

ours, either within the

cloud itself or in the

form of lightning to

the ground.

32 Chapter 1 What Is Electricity?

The discharge

of lightning is

instantaneous. But when

we have a continuous

flow of electrons, we

have cuent.

In other words,

when electrons are

continuously flowing,

electricity is flowing.

But one thing we

nd to be careful

about here is that

the direction of the

cuent is oosite

tothe direction

of the flow of

electrons.

Huh?

When electricity was sti

not we understd, it

was thought that the flow

of positive charge was in

the same direction as the

cuent.

But later,

after it was known

that electrons have

a negative charge, it

turned out that the

direction in which

the electrons move

is oosite to the

direction of the

cuent.

I s.

Direction of cuent?

Direction of cuent

Direction of electrons

Cuent and Electrical Discharge 33