🔋 Engines and energy

A petrol engine makes power with tiny, controlled explosions. It mixes fuel with air inside small chambers, sparks it to make it burn with a bang, and that push shoves parts up and down. Those pushes are turned into the spinning motion that drives the wheels, hundreds of times a minute.

An electric car runs on a big battery instead of burning fuel. The stored electricity feeds a motor that spins the wheels quietly and smoothly, with no engine noise and no exhaust fumes. When the battery runs low, you plug the car in to recharge it, a bit like charging a giant phone.

A solar panel is made of special material that pushes out a flow of electricity whenever sunlight lands on it. The brighter the light, the more power it makes, with no moving parts and no fuel to burn. On sunny roofs and huge solar farms, panels quietly turn light straight into usable energy.

Electricity is made in power stations, then sent across the country through a huge web of cables called the grid. Tall towers carry it long distances, and smaller wires bring it down your street and into your home. The grid keeps balancing how much power is made against how much everyone uses, every second.