Atoms and electrons – electricity’s little agents

Isn’t that amazing: If we were to blow up the nucleus of an atom up to the size of a pinhead and we placed it in Parliament House, the atom would cover all of Canberra!

To understand what electricity is, we have to know about atoms and electrons.

Atoms are tiny building blocks that make up all things. They are extremely tiny; if you were to line 10,000 atoms in a row, the line would only be the length of the entire breadth of a strand of hair!

An atom is largely made up of space, with a very tiny nucleus in the centre.

The nucleus made up of protons and neutrons, while in the space surrounding the nucleus, tiny particles called electrons move in orbit.

In an atom the protons carry a positive charge and electrons are negatively charged.

These positive and negative charges pull toward each other to hold the atom together.

Neutrons have no electrical charge.