Adults' understanding of electricity

Abstract

We describe how unskilled manual workers and office staff perceive everyday situations involving static and domestic electricity. The data were gathered in interviews about situations relating to static electricity in cars or in an electronic assembly workshop, and the functioning of different devices (e.g. a lamp, a circuit-tester, a washing machine). Different phenomena were discussed (e.g. electric shocks, short circuits). The interviews were analysed within a framework of mental models. Despite having learnt about electricity in school or during their in-service training, the subjects made little reference to formalized electricity. The models they used were built up from their own experience. Electricity is often considered as a substance or a fluid easily transferable from one place to another. Conceptions about grounding show that the earth is assimilated to a vast reservoir into which electricity flows and is then lost. The human body is also thought of as a reservoir that can accept a limited amount of electricity.