Electricity

What is inside

• Power station. Heat boils water, steam spins a turbine, the turbine spins a magnet inside coils — and that makes electricity.
• Sun, wind & water. Solar panels, wind turbines and dams make electricity without burning anything.
• The grid. Pylons, transformers and poles that carry electricity hundreds of kilometres to your street.
• Your house. The meter counts what you use, the switchboard protects you, and every switch completes a loop.
• A simple circuit. A cell, a bulb, a switch and wires in a loop. Break the loop anywhere and it all stops.

Stories in this thing

• Follow one electron. From the power station to your bulb — and back
• How a power station works. A kettle, a fan and a magnet
• Why pylons are so tall. High voltage, and why it must come down again
• What happens when you flick the switch. The two seconds after
• What the meter counts. Units, and where the bill comes from
• Why you must never touch. Electricity and your body
• Sun on the roof. Electricity with nothing spinning

School topics it covers

• Circuits
• Generators
• Safety

How children use it

Pull it apart with one slider, tap any part to hear what it does, follow a short story read aloud, then answer a few questions. Every thing comes with experiments to try at home and study notes linked to the NCERT chapter it supports.

More things to open

• Family car — Follow one drop of petrol from the tank all the way to the wheels.
• Aeroplane — How 70 tonnes of metal takes off, cruises and lands.
• Cruise ship — Why steel floats — and the secret crew corridor inside.
• Smartphone — Pull it apart into seven layers — the screen, the chip, the battery and the radios that carry your voice.
• Humanoid robot — Motor muscles, camera eyes and a computer brain.
• Brain & senses — Light up the lobes, send a pulse down a nerve, and see why your hand moves before you say ouch.