Understanding Electricity. Electricity is hard to explain because you can’t see it. In order to understand even the basics of electronics, you must first understand what electricity is. After all, the whole purpose of electronics is to get electricity to do useful and interesting things. CURRENT is identified by I and measured in amperes. Current flows from negative material to positive material and is essentially the number of electrons per second that are carried through a conductor.
Understanding what is a ground is one of the first things you will require to understand. Household wiring has two different paths to ground. The first path is generally called a “white wire ground” (the common conductor or neutral). This grounded wire is part of every household circuit. The second wire is an emergency path to ground for safety, called “the earth ground” .
The ground conductor is a bare, or green insulated, copper wire found in most household wiring. Non-grounded appliances have double-insulated jackets, which means that there is two different layers of insulation between live wires and any grounded parts within the appliance. Electricity moves easily through most metals and even through tap water, rainwater, and people. Anything that allows electricity to flow through it easily is called a conductor
In physics and electrical engineering, a conductor is an object or type of material which permits the flow of electric charges in one or more directions. For example, an insulated wire is an electrical conductor as it can carry electricity along its length (but not across its width). It is considered the conductor and is a bare, or insulated, copper wire found in most household wiring. Non-grounded appliances have double-insulated jackets, which means that there is two different layers of insulation between live wires and any grounded parts within the appliance.
The black wire in a 120 VAC circuit system is the hot conductor. This is the wire that powers your appliances and lights. It also ties into a fuse or circuit breaker in Your panel. You should always place switches or fuses on the hot wire rather than on the neutral wire. That way when the switch is open or the fuse/breaker trips, the current will be prevented from proceeding.. This minimizes any risk of shock that might occur if a wire comes loose within your project.
Electricity is transmitted through a cable in much the same manner as water in a pipe. Add more water at one end of the pipe and water is forced out the other end. We can move energy along a wire by giving energy to an electron at one end of the wire resulting in energy being moved along the length of the wire.
Most solid materials are classified as insulators because they offer very large resistance to the flow of electric current. Metals are classified as conductors because their outer electrons are not tightly bound, but in most materials even the outermost electrons are so tightly bound that there is essentially zero electron flow through them with ordinary voltages. Some materials are particularly good insulators and can be characterized by their high resistivities: