where does electricity in transmission lines go if i don't use it?

Answer 1

It goes to my house! I always have something running or turned on.

Answer 2

The work required at the generator, equals the work energy used by the electric customers such as yourself. Work in equals work out.
So, if the customers all turned off all of their appliances at the same time, the generators would loose control and spin too fast, until the controls corrected the problem. Normally, the generators are controled very carefully to maintain exactly 60Hz.
There are 4 seperate electrical grids, one for each time zone.

An appliance transformer at your house, or a power transformer up on the pole, is connected across the line. It is just a coil of wire wrapped around a large iron core( ferrite ( Iron+Silicon)).
Although the coil is just a piece of wire, it is not a short circuit, to the 60 Hz sinewave voltage. The core and wire are designed around the 60Hz line frequency, so that it is resonate at that frequency. The core can only support a limited magnetic field before it has reached its maximum value ( core saturates). If this happens, such as if a too slow a frequency were applied to the transformer, or DC, the core would saturate, and the coil would appear as a resistive short circuit. But the whole electric grid is resonate at 60Hz. Your appliances can draw power from the resonate grid, or can contribute energy back to the resonate grid.
In a transformer, power line voltage produces an electrical current, which induces a magnetic field in the core. Then the power line voltage reverses, this reverses and colapses the magnetic field, forcing voltage/current back into the line.
So transformers, borrow power to build up the magnetic field, but quickly return the power back into the grid.

So most of your appliances use transformers, which borrow power, only to give it back in a few milliseconds.
If your appliance isnt performing work, it isnt using any power, so the generator does not have to work very hard to keep turning.

For example, if you could measure the current ( power) used by a shop vac vacuume cleaner, then hold you hand over the suction end. you would hear the motor spinning faster as if working harder. Actually, the motor spins faster because it is not performing as much work, and it is free weeling. Just like your car's motor would, if you put it in neutral and pressed the gas a bit. The amount of current you would measure would decrease. This is because when the vacuume was originally working, it was moving a lot of air, which requires work. When you place your hand over the end, it can no longer perform that work, no air is moved, and so the power consumption decreases. This uses less power. As a result, the generator back a the station doesnt have to work as hard, and would spin faster, but is carefully controlled.

Austin Semiconductor

Answer 3

Excess electricity goes into storage so no matter how much you try to switch on and off the power in your house, you can never fool Mr. Volt!

Answer 4

They go to a place called electrical heaven.

Let's observe a minute of silence...

Answer 5

Excess current either goes back to the generator as back current (which gets wasted as heat), or it gets absorbed by the ground.

Answer 6

It goes to the Engergizer battery factory, and if you stick your tongue on the end of it you will get a buzz.

Answer 7

where does electricity in your torch light battery go if you don't switch on?

Answer 8

Back to the transmitter.