This Is One of the Most Common Misconceptions About Electricity

Have you ever wondered how electricity gets from a power plant to your home? The electricity in the grid comes in the form of alternating current which means electrons in the power lines are just wiggling back and forth. They never actually go anywhere.

This begs the question: if the charges don't come from the power plant to your home, how does the electrical energy actually reach you? This is the dilemma YouTuber Veritassium tries to address in this very educational video.

The former teacher uses a flexible plastic tubing with a chain inside to illustrate how power lines work. It might seem unconventional and far-fetched but the example actually works out quite well showing how electrons go back and forth when transmitting energy.

But wait, it's not that easy! Veritassium actually goes on to say that his example is wrong. He does this to clearly illustrate one of the biggest misconceptions about electricity.

So what is this all too common misconception? What does it say about electricity, power plants, and power lines? How do power plants actually transmit electricity and how do our electronics receive it?  This video answers all these questions and more, elegantly differentiating truth from myth once and for all.