Lesson video

Hello there, my name is Mr. Wilshire, and in this lesson, we'll be looking at generating and transporting electricity.

So let's generate some energy and jump straight into this lesson.

Our outcome for this lesson is to explain how electricity is generated and reaches our homes.

There are some key words that we're going to be going through as time goes on in our lesson.

I'm gonna say some of them and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

The first word is electricity.

Next up is generate.

Well done.

Now, power station.

Excellent.

Turbine.

Finally, pylon.

Well done.

Now, here are some of the definitions for these keywords, so if there's any that you're not too sure about, you can check it here.

Some of them you might know really well, and others you might not know well at all, so have a little read and pause the video.

You can continue when you're ready.

Let's jump straight into the first part of our lesson, generating electricity.

So, some electrical appliances use mains electricity.

Now we plug them into the sockets in our walls to get electricity.

Lucas says, "But where does that electricity come from?

" Alex says, "Perhaps we can find electricity buried in the earth.

" Sam says, "Perhaps it's produced naturally from lightning.

" And Sophia says, "I think it's made in the plug socket.

" Those are four good statements and questions there, aren't they?

So I wonder what you guys think, and where you think electricity comes from.

Somewhere that I know that I can get electricity from if I'm out and about is using one of these.

This is my solar-powered battery bank.

On the front there is a solar panel, and so I can hold it up to the sunlight and it will give me some energy.

There's a big battery inside here, and then I can plug my cable into the side, and then I'm able to charge my phone, or tablet, or any other device that I want to use.

So that's somewhere that I know I can get electricity, but it certainly doesn't help with the mains electricity in your house.

Sometimes we need to use mains electricity for the appliances in our house, and I don't think my little solar battery bank here would help charge a toaster, or even a kettle, and definitely not the oven to cook some food.

So have a think here.

Where do you think this electricity comes from?

Have a discussion and restart the video when you're ready.

Well, I wonder what kind of discussions you were able to have, and where you think electricity comes from.

Did lots of you think that maybe it just comes from solar panels, or was there something else?

The process of getting electricity is called electricity generation.

Here you can see a picture of a power station.

There are four great big funnels there, and there's also two very large chimneys putting smoke out into the air.

There are also some metal pylons there.

The pylons are there to help transfer the electricity from one place to the other.

So we'll look a little bit more at those later on.

Electricity is traditionally generated in power stations like this one.

In power stations, electricity is generated using very large turbines.

Here you can see a picture of a turbine that is on the side of a jet engine.

And turbines come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes, but they're usually shaped like a wheel with blades fanning out from the center.

When turbines spin in power stations, electricity is generated.

The spinning of the turbine blades cause electricity to be generated in a machine called a generator.

And when the blades of a turbine turn, they make a magnet spin inside like in a coil of wire.

It's this movement of the magnet and the coil of wire that allows electricity to be generated.

So Lucas says, "So, what makes a turbine spin?

" (hums) That's a good question.

Well, traditional power stations burn fuel to heat water and turn it into steam to make the blades of the turbine spin.

Some burn coal, some burn gas, and some even burn waste.

So yeah, the waste, the things that you throw out, can be burned and turned into electricity.

You can see there a picture of a coal fired power station.

Again, there are some big funnels, ejecting steam and smoke out into the air.

We've also got lots of thin, big chimneys as well.

In the power station, the heat from burning the fuel is used to heat water.

So I wonder if you know what water turns into when you heat it.

Pause the video here and have a discussion.

Restart the video when you're ready.

So I wonder, were you able to answer that question?

Do you know what water turns into when you heat it?

Lucas says, "I think it's smoke.

" Sofia says, "I think it's steam.

" Well, the water here boils and turns into a gas called steam in a boiler.

The steam flows through a turbine, making the blades turn.

This turning spins the magnet and generates electricity.

So earlier when I showed you that picture of the power station, I wonder if you thought as well, a bit like I did, that there was smoke coming out of those chimneys.

Well, it wasn't smoke at all, was it?

It was steam, steam that's used to turn the turbine blades to generate electricity.

We can also get electricity by alternative approaches as well, just like using the sun, the wind, and water.

Here, you can see a picture of some wind turbines, and I've actually got a mini model of a wind turbine, but I wonder if you can spot the problem with mine.

(Mr. Wilshire humming) There are no blades on this.

Can you see the ones in the picture there have got very, very long blades that are able to turn in the wind?

Well, mine wouldn't be able to turn at all, would it?

There's no blades to be able to turn in the wind.

Now wind and water can be used instead of the steam to help turn the turbine blades.

Burning oil and coal to generate electricity releases gases into the atmosphere that contribute to global warming.

And this is really bad, isn't it?

If we can generate more electricity using alternative approaches, it's less harmful to the environment than the traditional power stations that you find.

So the turbine here has got to stay and those other power stations have got to go.

Now, I wonder if you can remember a little device that I showed you earlier with my battery pack.

It had a little solar panel on the front.

You can also get solar farms that are made up entirely of those solar panels.

Let's stop and think.

Where is mains electricity generated if traditional methods are used?

Is it lightning, is it out of the earth, in power stations, or in plug sockets?

Pause the video here and restart when you're ready.

The answer here is in power stations.

If traditional methods are used, the electricity will be generated in a power station.

We can't just get it out of the earth, we can't take it from lightning, and it doesn't just exist in plug sockets.

Stop and think again.

In power stations, how do the turbines generate electricity?

Read the statements, have a discussion, and restart the video when you're ready.

The answer here is when the blades turn, electricity is generated.

Now the blades don't open and close, and they don't really move up and down, they've got to turn in a big circle, haven't they?

The next part, which of the following can be used to generate electricity?

Wind, water, soil, or the sun?

Have a quick discussion and restart the video when you're ready.

There are a few answers here.

Wind, water, and sun can all be used to generate electricity.

Soil, you can't really throw soil and generate electricity, although that might be a little bit fun.

Here's your first task of the lesson.

It says, "Use the image prompts below to help you create an annotated diagram," that means you've got to write something as well, "Or a poster explaining how electricity is generated in power stations.

" Now the images show some important stages in the process, but they're not really in the correct order.

I wonder if you can put them in the correct order to help here.

So the first picture there is the coil, a coil of wire and the magnets in the middle, there's a picture of some steam rising from water, there's a fire there, and there's lots of circular spinning discs with blades on.

So I wonder which is the correct order here.

How can you use these to help you create your own diagram or poster?

Put the images in the correct order, or you can draw your own.

Add some notes under each one to explain what happens at each stage.

Best of luck, pause the video, continue when you've done that.

So here is a diagram that you could've done.

It could look similar to this.

How is electricity generated at power stations?

Well, one, it says, "Coal or oil is burned to create some heat.

" Two, "This heats water and turns it into steam in the boiler.

" Three, "The steam makes turbine blades turn," and then four, "The turning spins a magnet within a coil of wire, which generates electricity.

" So your answers might have been a bit different, or maybe your diagram or your poster had a bit more information on.

Let's look at the final part of our lesson, transporting electricity.

(hums) I wonder how you can carry electricity.

Is that what that means?

Sophia says, "So, I know that electricity is generated, but I still don't understand how it gets into the sockets in my house.

" I wonder if somebody picks it up and puts it in there.

Lucas says, "Oh, is it stored in big batteries in our house?

" Is your house a giant battery?

Alex says, "Is it piped in like water?

" Oh, they push it down some pipes, maybe?

(hums) What do you think here?

Pause the video, have a discussion, and restart when you're ready.

So here are some answers.

Now there are power stations all over the country that generate electricity.

The electricity is transported along the cables from the power stations to where it is needed.

Power stations across the country are connected to each other via these cables.

So if one area needs more electricity, it can be passed from one another.

So all of that electricity will go to different areas, and that will be stored for a little bit, and then it will be sent onto somewhere else if it's needed.

So why do you think electrical cables are made of metal here?

There you can see a picture of some cables supported by a pylon, just like I said earlier.

Have a think about this question.

Have a discussion, restart the video once you've done that.

So why are electrical cables made of metal?

Well, they're made of metal because metals are really good electrical conductors.

Remember, a conductor is something that will let electricity pass through, and an insulator will not electricity pass through.

The cables are supported here by the pylons.

They are huge, great towers, which are designed to keep the cables high and up and out of our way.

Electrical cables and pylons are very dangerous, so you should never play near them.

All of those electrical cables are there on the pylons to do a job, so it's not a good idea to go climbing or playing nearby them.

When the electricity leaves the power station, it's far too powerful for the appliances in our buildings and our homes.

Instead, the cables transport it to places called electricity substations.

There's an example of one as well.

I wonder if you've seen one near your school, or maybe near your home where you live.

It's in this kind of place that the electricity is converted into a form which is safer to use at home.

What's the name of this place again?

It's an electricity substation.

It's very, very important here that you never touch or enter electricity substations, as you could get a very dangerous electric shock.

These are very dangerous places where a high amount of electricity is stored.

So if you wander in there, you could be endangering your life or someone else's.

The people who are employed to work in these places need to use specialist clothing and equipment in order to work there.

So that means that they're safe.

You going inside here, you won't have any of that equipment, so it would be very, very dangerous.

Now, electricity enters our homes without us knowing it.

It either goes in by underground or overhead cables.

As it enters each building, the electricity goes through a meter, and that measures how much electricity is used.

Here, you can see the lightning bolt showing off the electricity, The electricity meter outside your house is usually on a little plastic box on the outside, and then the home that it's going into.

Now the electricity will travel through wires inside the walls up to the sockets and the switches all over our homes.

You can see a little diagram there of all the wires going from one end, around the house, and then back out again.

Remember, it needs to be a circuit for it to work, doesn't it?

Lucas says, "When I plug in the vacuum cleaner, it looks like there's only one wire.

I thought electricity would only flow when there is a loop.

" Here you can see a picture of a plug.

Now, when we use electricity with appliances, the electricity does travel in a loop.

It travels into the appliance through one pin.

Well, I've got my plug just here as well.

So one of those pins is where all the electricity travels through.

Then it goes through the appliance, and then afterwards, it goes out again through the other pin.

The pins and wires of the plug are made of metal to conduct electricity.

Let me look at my plug.

Oh, yes, I can see there, that's definitely metal, isn't it?

There's a big, long, metal pin at the top, and you see that one is longer, and the other two are shorter.

The casing of the plug and the wire are made from plastic or rubber, which is an insulator.

This keeps us safe from electric shocks.

That one of these pins is longer than the other.

Yeah, I can see that there.

Now it's very important that you put the plug in in the correct way.

This pin at the top is longer because when you push it inside the plug socket, it will open special gates inside the socket that allows the electricity to pass through here and out the other side.

Now without this long metal pin, those little gates won't open up, and you won't be able to use the plug socket.

So it's important that any plug you have in the United Kingdom have three of those pins.

So let's stop and think here.

True or false, electricity travels along metal cables to our homes.

Pause the video and restart when you're ready.

The answer here is true.

Electricity will need to travel along metal cables to our homes, or otherwise we won't have any electricity.

So let's justify our answer here.

Read the statements and restart the video when you're ready.

The answer here is metal is an electrical conductor, so electricity passes through it easily.

Of course, yes, it's a conductor.

We can't pass electricity through insulators, can we?

Next up, it says, "What are pylons?

" Read the statements and decide which is right.

Restart the video when you're ready.

The answer here is C, towers that support electrical cables.

And those are the towers that it's not a very good idea to climb by or play by.

Now, this is the last task of the lesson.

It says, "Lucas has made an annotated diagram to show how electricity travels to our plug sockets and our switches.

Unfortunately, he's made a mistake.

So look at Lucas's diagram on the next slide and use the worksheet to help you organize the drawings and text in the correct order.

" I wonder what he's done.

So here is his diagram.

It says electricity passes through a meter, substations convert the electricity into a form that is safe for our houses, and that electricity arrives at our houses through cables.

It travels through wires all around our homes, then electricity is generated at the power station, and then it is transported across the country through cables supported by pylons.

(hums) Has Lucas got it in the right order here?

I'm not sure.

See if you can help him by putting everything into the correct order.

Best of luck, restart the video once you've done that.

Let's see how we got on.

Your diagram might've looked similar to this.

Number one, electricity is generated at a power station, of course, using steam, the turbines moving, that's how it's generated.

Two, it's transported across the country through cables supported by pylons, yeah, of course.

Those big metal pylons help the electricity travel from one place to another.

Substations then convert it to be safe, electricity then arrives at our houses through cables, it passes through a meter, and then it travels through wires all around our houses.

That is the correct order, isn't it?

I wonder how you got on with that.

Hopefully you've done it in the same order as this.

If not, have a another look at your work and have a think how you can improve it.

So let's summarize.

Traditional power stations burn coal or gas to generate electricity.

Electricity is generated when the blades of a turbine turn.

This causes a magnet to spin inside a coil of wire.

Electricity is generated at traditional power stations or using the wind, water, or the sun.

Electricity is transported around the country and to our homes through metal cables.

Well, I hope you found some interest in the different parts of the lesson here, and that you've had a good think about how you might like electricity to reach your home.

It would be much better if more people used renewable sources of electricity all the time, like solar powered, or wind turbines, or even water turbines.

Whatever you decide, I hope you go on in the future to become an energy pioneer and create some other form of renewable technology.

I've been Mr. Wilshire, thank you very much for listening.