Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Nikki who loved to play with her toys. She had a lot of toys that needed electricity to work, such as a dollhouse with lights, a toy car that moved, and a music box that played songs. Nikki was very curious about how electricity worked and where it came from. One day, she asked her father, “Papa, how does electricity make my toys work?” Her father smiled and said, “Well, Nikki, electricity is like water that flows through pipes. The pipes are called wires and they carry electricity from the power plant to our house. The power plant is like a big machine that makes electricity by burning coal or using wind or water. The electricity flows through the wires and reaches our house through a meter that measures how much we use. Then it goes to the outlets where we plug in our appliances and devices.” Nikki nodded and said, “I see. So the electricity is like water that makes my toys work.”
Her father said, “Yes, but not exactly. You see, Nikki, there are two kinds of electricity: active power and reactive power. Active power is the useful part of electricity that makes your toys work. Reactive power is the extra part of electricity that helps the active power flow smoothly through the wires. Without reactive power, the active power would have trouble reaching your toys and they might not work properly.”
Nikki asked, “How can I tell the difference between active power and reactive power?”
Her father said, “Well, Nikki, imagine that you have a glass of water and a straw. If you drink the water through the straw, the water is like active power and the straw is like reactive power. The water is what you need to quench your thirst and the straw is what you need to drink the water easily. But if you blow air into the straw instead of drinking the water, the air is like reactive power and the water is like active power. The air is what you don’t need and it pushes the water out of the glass. That’s why we don’t blow air into our drinks, right?”
Nikki giggled and said, “Right. That would make a mess.”
Her father said, “Exactly. And that’s why we don’t want too much reactive power in our wires either. It would make a mess of our electricity and waste energy. That’s why we have devices called capacitors and inductors that help balance the amount of reactive power in our wires. Capacitors are like sponges that soak up extra reactive power and inductors are like springs that release extra reactive power when needed. They help keep the flow of electricity stable and efficient.”
Nikki said, “Wow, Papa, you are so smart. Thank you for explaining everything to me.”
Her father hugged her and said, “You’re welcome, Nikki. You are very smart too. And now you know more about electricity than most people do.”
Short stories for kids 