Power line facts for kids

A power line running across facilities.

The Simple English Wiktionary has a definition for: power line.

Power lines are wires that conduct electricity through to another place. Many have transformers. The voltage of the power at the end is usually 100V (Japan), 120V (North and Central America, parts of South America and Africa, and Saudi Arabia), or 220-240V (most of the rest of the world), but is much higher while going through the electric power transmission lines. The power at the end is then safe enough to be used when "stepped-down" by a transformer.

The original power is made at a power plant. As the power is sent through the power lines, sometimes it encounters spots that it cannot go through. Then it will need to raise its voltage with a step-up transformer. The act is called "stepping up". Where the electric power distribution reaches buildings, this voltage is too dangerous to be used, so it goes through a step-down transformer. This is called "stepping down". Then the electricity can be distributed to buildings.

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Images for kids

Overhead power lines 330 and 150 kV in Dnipro
Overhead powerline Dnieper crossing, Ukraine
A man working on powerlines in Nauru (2007)
Medium-voltage power lines with ceramic insulators in California
Sample cross-section of ACSR power line
Conventional ACSR (left) and modern carbon core (right) conductors
A bundle conductor
Spacer damper for four-conductor bundles
Aluminum conductor crosslinked polyethylene insulation wire. It is used for 6600V power lines.
HVDC Fenno-Skan with ground wires used as electrode line
A Stockbridge damper
Medium-voltage compact overhead power line mounted on a concrete pole in Thailand. The appearance is similar to a bundle conductor, but this line consists of three conductors, which are attached to a single, cross-shaped porcellain insulator.
Aerial bundled cable in Old Coulsdon, Surrey
An aviation obstruction marker on a high-voltage overhead transmission line reminds pilots of the presence of an overhead line. Some markers are lit at night or have strobe lights.
low-profile power lines near an airfield
Short length of power line
Medium length of power line
Overhead power line 35 kV in Ukraine
Overhead power line 400 kV in Košice Region, Slovakia
Overhead power line in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire
Corona discharge on an insulator string of a 750 kV overhead power line
Triple pylon of overhead power line 750 kV, Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Overhead power line in Gloucestershire, England
H-frame suspension pylon near Trempealeau, Wisconsin
Overhead power line 150 kV in Dnipro, Ukraine
Overhead power line 380 kV in Germany
Overhead power line in Budapest, Hungary
Electric tower fallen in Tenerife, Canary Islands
The main 400 kV powerline between Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant and Stockholm, Sweden
Overhead power line 750 kV in Russia
Powerline crossing 35 and 150 kV in Ukraine
A red-and-white electricity pylon on the territory of Arâches-La-Frasse, Haute-Savoie, France
High- and medium-voltage power lines in Łomża, Poland
Minami-Iwaki Powerline designed for 1000 kV and adopted eight conductors in Tochigi, Japan