Knowledge is Power

A tree fell on our neighbor's powerline yesterday, leaving our family without power for about three hours before the Comcast response team could get there. During their "speedy" arrival, I wondered about how the power system worked, since one tiny branch took out all of our power. The electricity starts in the power plant, where it can be generated in one of many ways like nuclear power, coal, wind, geothermal, or bio fuel to just name a few energy sources. Once the electricity is generated, it is sent along power lines to a transformer. The transformer ups the voltage to the aproximatley shocking amount 756,000 volts. This raise in voltage allows the power to travel long distances across the country over the american grid. You can tell a power line is part of the national grid when its significantly bigger and made of metal. From the larger grid, the electricity goes through a power substatoin which lowers the voltage to a more mangable level. The power then goes through a smaller, localized grid called the distribusion grid. The power lines associated with this grid are the wooden ones most people are familiar with. Once its on the distribution grid, the electricity goes through a final transformer called a pole transformer, these are the little boxes seen on power lines. Their job is to lower the voltage to house level, about 120 and 240 volts. Then the power is used to run your house, or school. New Trier happens to buy their electricity from California. This is because it's cheaper, due to the time differance California doesn't use their power until about three hours after we do, so from that logic the east coast buys from the west coast, and vice versa. And so by the time Comcast came to my house and fixed the power, I had been shocked by all the new electrifying information that I had learned.