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Producing and Supplying Electricity: Garden of Amps Electricity

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Producing and Supplying Electricity: Garden of Amps
Print Producing and Supplying Electricity: Garden of Amps Reading Comprehension with Fourth Grade Work

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Print Producing and Supplying Electricity: Garden of Amps Reading Comprehension

Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 5
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	9.86

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		cultivation, downed, electromagnet, electromagnetism, geoelectric, geothermal, induction, magnetism, transformer, voltage, volts, wrapping, notorious, production, generate, cylindrical
	content words:		Hans Christian Oersted, André Ampere, William Sturgeon, American Joseph Henry, Englishman Michael Faraday, When Faraday, Joseph Henry, Aswan Dam, Three Gorges Dam, Niagara Falls

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Producing and Supplying Electricity: Garden of Amps

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¹     Most plants grow in pots or in gardens. However, some plants are made from steel and concrete. These plants are electrical power plants. They are very important to billions of people around the world who depend on electricity each day. The seeds for electrical power plants were planted during the 1800s. In 1819, a Danish scientist named Hans Christian Oersted made an accidental discovery. He found a link between electricity and magnetism. Oersted was investigating how electrical currents could produce heat when he noticed a strange sight. There was a compass on a nearby table. When the wires were connected in his circuit to the power source, the needle on the compass swung around. When he disconnected the wires, the compass needle returned to its normal position pointing towards the magnetic north pole. Electricity had magnetic pull!
 
²     In 1820, French scientist Andre Ampere proved that parallel wires carrying electric currents in the same direction in a circuit would attract each other like unlike poles on the ends of bar magnets. If the current flowed in opposite directions, the wires would repel each other. Ampere used his observations to make a cylindrical (circular) coil of wire that behaved like a magnet. Today we call these solenoids.
 
³     In 1825, William Sturgeon, an English scientist, made another breakthrough. He discovered how to increase the power of an electromagnet (combination of electricity and magnets) by placing a bar of iron inside a coil of wire. In 1831, American Joseph Henry made improvements to Sturgeon's electromagnet. He wrapped insulated wires around a horseshoe magnet. This helped to increase the power of the electromagnet. During that same year, Henry helped to develop an electromagnet that was capable of lifting more than a ton (2,000 pounds).

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