Electricity is the flow of free electrons in a closed circuit. The circuit starts at the electricity company and I (basically) get charged for the number of electrons that enter my property through the meter, But if the electricity company is getting their electrons back (because of the closed circuit) then why do we get charged for the electricity that we 'use' ?
2006-10-11 08:28:05 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Because you are paying for the energy you took from those electrons as they went through your house. They come in high energy and lose it as you drain it off, probably converting most of it to heat. Every time you turn on an appliance that uses electric power, you are increasing the resistance that the electrons must overcome in 'going back to the power company.' Thus there is a voltage drop across your house that varies with how much you are using. Now volts are Joules/Coulomb, so if the current is the same at both ends (the Coulombs) but the voltage dropped, the Joules must have dropped. Joules are units of energy, thus your power bill.
2006-10-11 08:31:16 · answer #1 · answered by 1,1,2,3,3,4, 5,5,6,6,6, 8,8,8,10 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are not consuming the electrons. You are consuming the energy they carry. "Electricity" is measured in volts, amps and watts. Volts is the energy each electron Carry's, amps is the number of electrons and watts is the total energy - hence your meter measures your energy consumption in kilowatt hours (i.e. the equivalent of a thousand watts for an hour). Just remember electricity is transferring energy to you by moving electrons which each carry a packet of energy. You pay for the energy which is put into the electrons. At the power station they drive a turbine, this moves a magnet through a coil of copper, which moves the electrons. At this stage each electron carrys thousands of volts. At the substation near you the few electrons offload the high voltage onto lots of electrons and they carry the 240 volts to your house. Its complicated, but the principle is you don't use the electrons, you use the energy they carry.
2006-10-11 08:46:24 · answer #2 · answered by Stu 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
electricity is the flow of free electrons in a closed circit and you take these electrons and use them up and don't give them back.Also you're too lazy to remove them your self, so the company does it for you basically. So either get experimenting and stop people having to pay for electricity or leave it or don't use electricity
2006-10-11 08:42:22 · answer #3 · answered by i.shanik.d 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Electricity is the movement of the electrons. You pay because you are too lazy to move the electrons on your own. You pay a company to move them for you.
2006-10-11 08:33:47 · answer #4 · answered by Ace of Spades 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You don't pay for electricity. You pay for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity - WORK (force times distance). Energy can neither be created nor destroyed (theoretically), just converted: motion, heat, light, etc.
They measure what you "use" (consume/convert) with the watt/hour meter. If, somehow, you were to produce compatible electricity in excess of your usage, THEY would pay you!
Note: The "closed circuit" you refer do is explained adequately in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirchhoff's_circuit_laws .
Basically :
1. What goes in must come out.
2. There's no free lunch
2006-10-12 16:09:47 · answer #5 · answered by BobbityBoo 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You only pay for the energy that the electrons carry, and transfer to whatever equipment you are using. The cost of electricity also includes running costs of power stations, and the energy source they use to generate the electricity, along with upkeep of power lines and general maintenance. Hope this helps to answer your question.
2006-10-14 11:40:11 · answer #6 · answered by Dr David 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the company is pumping them through your closed circuit, using the potential difference you know; (220V, or the 110 volts)
2006-10-11 09:01:31 · answer #7 · answered by latif_1950 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You pay the salaries of the workers. They charge us because they know we need it; its like oil, they can raise prices more and more because they know people will still buy it.
If you did not get it from the power company, then where?
2006-10-11 08:38:56 · answer #8 · answered by accrv 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because you need something to pump these electrons to your circuit. If you don't have it, you got to pay for it. That's it!!
2006-10-11 09:59:12 · answer #9 · answered by Belphegore 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nice argument, but if it is free why don't you get it from somewhere else where you don't have to pay?
Because it takes money to generate electricity, that's why!
2006-10-11 08:40:55 · answer #10 · answered by Anro 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋