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High Voltage Electricity

Excellent, out in the countryside at last. Look at that river, hey Julie, fancy a swim? Oh no I can’t even get away from it here. Look at that idiot on the river bank. I can’t believe he hasn’t seen the power lines behind him. You can hardly miss a pylon they’re huge. If he casts that fishing line he could be electrocuted. And look at those kids behind him, they look like they are going to try and fly that kite near the pylon too. If the kite gets anywhere near the power lines the high voltage electricity will jump to the kite, travel down the string and kill them. Excuse me I’ve got to stop them, Dave to the rescue as usual.

Ask Julie

You can find high voltage electricity everywhere. The national electricity supply system (The National Grid), supplies electricity all over the country. So there are pylons carrying high voltage electricity and substations with powerful transformers everywhere.

What is a volt?

The force that makes electricity flow around a circuit is called electromotive force (e.m.f.). This force is measured in units called Volts. Simple circuits, powered by a single cell (battery) such as a torch, have 1.5 volts of electromotive force. Complex circuits, powered by power stations (such as the National Grid) can have 275,000 volts of electromotive force.

The amount of electricity flowing around a circuit is measured in units called Amps. One Amp is the equivalent of a flow of approximately 6 million, million, million electrons per second.

Pairs

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