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Question
If electrons are not used up in electrical appliances, what actually happens so that the appliance starts working?
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Solution
When electrons are forced to move in synch, they can produce heat and — way more impressive — they turn the wire they're moving in into a magnet. Heat can boil water and make light bulbs glow, and magnets can make things move. And these two tricks are behind the 'magic' of every electrical appliance.
Wires are made of metal, and metals have always got loose electrons buzzing around throughout them. But if you can make those electrons move in an organised way, you've got an electric current flowing. All wires get a little bit hot when they've got a current running through them, because as the electrons move in the wire they bang into the metal atoms. And whenever they prang into an atom, energy from the moving electrons gets given off as heat. Every appliance with moving parts has got an electric motor in it. These electric motors really just do one thing — they spin whenever you turn on the power. And anything attached to them — like fan blades, wheels or washing tubs — spins too. The spinning only happens when current is flowing — when electrons in the wire are organised into a current. So how do moving electrons make a motor spin? They simply turn wires into magnets and these magnets are great for making things move.
Wires are made of metal, and metals have always got loose electrons buzzing around throughout them. But if you can make those electrons move in an organised way, you've got an electric current flowing. All wires get a little bit hot when they've got a current running through them, because as the electrons move in the wire they bang into the metal atoms. And whenever they prang into an atom, energy from the moving electrons gets given off as heat.
Every appliance with moving parts has got an electric motor in it. These electric motors really just do one thing — they spin whenever you turn on the power. And anything attached to them — like fan blades, wheels or washing tubs — spins too. The spinning only happens when current is flowing — when electrons in the wire are organised into a current. So how do moving electrons make a motor spin? They simply turn wires into magnets and these magnets are great for making things move.
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