This article presents a basic explanation of the considerations involved in powering and protecting your personal computer. To minimize complexity, it is deliberately limited in scope to typical home or small office computing situations. It begins with a simplified explanation of electrical units and terminology that we often see misused. This section provides a basic understanding of common electrical terms and how they relate to the devices we use daily. The terms voltage, current, wattage, capacitance and resistance are frequently used but not completely understood by most who use them.
Electricity is made up of electrons, a fundamental part of the atom.
They are negatively charged particles that orbit about the atomic nucleus. Certain materials have atoms in which some of the electrons are able to break away and travel from atom to atom, these are the materials that can conduct electricity. Because electrons carry a negative charge they will be attracted to a positively charged point in a circuit, and repelled by a negatively charged point. The amount of difference between the positive and negative points is known as the potential or electromotive force and is measured in volts. A common analogy to make this all more understandable in familiar terms is by comparing it to water in a hose.