Everywhere you turn, you'll find electricity. Just take a walk around your house – how many different devices need electricity in order to work?

Electricity lights up our homes, cooks our food, powers our computers, television sets, many other things. Electricity from batteries keeps our cars running and makes our flashlights shine in the dark.

But what is electricity? Where does it come from? How does it work? It all starts with something smaller than we can even imagine – the atom.

All matter is made up of atoms, and atoms are made up of smaller particles. The three main particles making up an atom are the proton, the neutron and the electron. Electrons spin around the center, or nucleus, of atoms, in the same way the moon spins around the earth. The nucleus is made up of neutrons and protons.

Electrons contain a negative charge, protons a positive charge. Neutrons are neutral -- they have neither a positive nor a negative charge.

Electrons can be made to move from one atom to another. When those electrons move between the atoms, a current of electricity is created. The electrons move from one atom to another in a "flow". One electron is attached and another electron is lost.

Think of the fire fighter's bucket brigades from many years ago, and you'll be on the right track. But instead of passing one bucket from the start of the line of people to the other end, each person would have a bucket of water to pour from one bucket to another. The result was a lot of spilled water and not enough water to douse the fire.

Sounds similar to electricity passing along a wire and a circuit, right? The charge is passed from atom to atom when electricity is "passed". This is how a current of electricity is created, and it's what happens in a piece of wire (like the cord attached to any appliance to make it work).