Water flowing in pipes is a lot like electricity flowing in a circuit. A battery is like a pump. Electrons flowing through wires are like water flowing through pipes.
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Electric Circuits: Like Water-in-Pipes
An electric current is a flow of electrons through a conductor (like a copper wire). Since we can't see electrons, it would be nice to have a model or an analogy of electric circuits to help us understand circuits better. Water flowing through pipes is pretty good mechanical system that is a lot like an electrical circuit.
This mechanical system consists of a pump pushing water through a closed pipe. Imagine that the electrical current is similar to the water flowing through the pipe. The following parts of the two systems are related:
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- The pipe is like the wire in the electric circuit
- The pump is like the battery.
- The pressure generated by the pump drives water through the pipe; that pressure is like the voltage generated by the battery which drives electrons through the circuit.
- The seashells plug up the pipe and slow the flow of water, creating a pressure difference from one end to the other. In a similar way the resistance in the electric circuit resists the flow of electricity and creates a voltage drop from one end to the other. Energy is lost across the resistor and shows up as heat.
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The power in the circuit equals the voltage times the current. The same power can be carried by a high voltage and a low current as is carried by a low voltage and a high current. The higher the current flow, however, the more energy is lost as heating of the wires. That's why high voltage and low current is used when transporting electrical energy along power lines.
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