Stay Safe Around ElectricityPrint1234

INTRODUCTION

The Stay Safe Around Electricity activity booklet can be used as a follow-up to a utility presentation or as a stand-alone piece to teach electrical safety concepts. This guide provides background for teachers on the electrical safety concepts contained in the booklet. It also includes ideas for further discussion and exploration.

OBJECTIVES

To teach students the basic rules and principles of electrical safety. Students will be able to:

  • Describe how electricity is generated, distributed, and used.
  • Explain why electricity can be dangerous.
  • Predict what is likely to happen in common situations involving potential electrical contact and identify safe behaviors in each situation.

KEY PRINCIPLES OF ELECTRICAL SAFETY

Use these principles to help students understand the dangers represented in the activity book:

  1. Electricity flows easily through conductors, like metal and water. It does not flow easily through insulators, like special rubber or glass.
  2. Water is an excellent conductor of electricity. Because the human body is mostly water, people are also good conductors of electricity, which is why it is dangerous to us.
  3. Electricity always takes the easiest path to the ground.
  4. If you come between electricity and the ground, you become a conductor for electricity and can be shocked. An electrical shock can seriously injure you.

Pages 2 & 3: Production, Distribution, and Use of Electricity

Teacher Background:
Electricity is made at a power plant. Power plants use some form of fuel (coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, wind, or solar) to heat water into steam, which turns the blades of a turbine. The turbine spins magnets inside a generator, producing electricity.

Electricity travels through a grid of wires, including transmission lines (which carry high-voltage electricity over long distances) and distribution lines (which carry lower-voltage electricity for use in homes and businesses). Distribution lines run overhead or underground. Transformers change electricity’s voltage and are found in substations, on power poles, or in large metal boxes on the ground, called pad-mounted transformers. From distribution lines, electricity enters buildings and flows through wires in the walls that lead to lights and electrical outlets.

 

 

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