Basics of Electricity:
- Electricity is the flow of electrical charge, and these charge carriers are electrons.
- Electric current is carried by electrons, the negatively charged fundamental particles that usually revolve around positively charged protons in every atom.
- Essentially, air is an insulator, i.e., the electrons are bound to the air molecules tight, and it would need a high energy/voltage to pull an electron out of its molecule.
- Every atom has an equal number of protons and electrons, rendering them electrical neutral.
- Thus, the application of a high voltage will force electrons out of atoms. Hence, instead of a neutrally charged air, we have a gas made of positively charged atoms and negatively charged electrons floating together.
Working of an Electric bat:
- There are three metal meshes in a mosquito bat. The one at the centre is positively charged and the outer ones are negatively charged.
- When the layers don’t touch each other, current cannot flow.
- But when a mosquito connects them, a current passes through and kills the insect.
The ‘colour’ of electricity:
- Strong voltages ionise and pull electrons away from atoms. But, these atoms try to get their electrons back. So, if the electrons do go back, they need to lose the ‘excess’ energy they have, and they do this by emitting light.
- Every time the electron loses some energy, the light has some wavelength.
- In the case of air, the light the electrons lose is in the range of wavelengths human eyes can see. And this light is what we see.
- The colour of the light and the spark depends on the type of atom (its unique identifier). For example, in air, most of the atoms are of oxygen and nitrogen and so the sparks are white or near-white. On the other hand, on some alien planet with an atmosphere made of neon, the sparks will look red.