How electricity works
Electricity moves through three stages before it reaches anything useful: it's generated by converting some other form of energy into moving electrons, gathered and stored for when it's needed, and finally released through a circuit to do work. Adjust the controls in each panel to see the physics respond live.
Most power plants make electricity the same fundamental way: spin a magnet near a coil of wire. Solar panels take a different route, using light itself to knock electrons loose.
Batteries store energy chemically and release it slowly and steadily. Capacitors store it as an electric field between two plates and can release it almost instantly.
Once flowing, current does work by pushing through a load — a resistor, a bulb, a motor. Voltage, current, and resistance are always linked by Ohm's law: V = I × R.
All diagrams are simplified for teaching clarity and are not to scale or fully physically accurate.