This is But Why, a podcast for curious kids from Vermont Public Radio.

I'm Jane Lindholm.

On this podcast, we take questions from curious kids just like you from all over the world.

And we find answers.

We recently took some of your questions live on the radio, on Vermont Public Radio in

fact.

And today we're listening back to the second half of that program.

If you missed our previous episode, you can go back and listen to that first to get some

of the basics of what electricity is and how it works.

We're answering your questions about electricity with electrical engineer Paul Heins.

He's a professor at the University of Vermont and the co-founder of a company that deals

with electricity.

Before we get back to the program, we want to answer a question that didn't get on to

the radio the day we recorded with Paul.

It's from Felix.

And I am six years old.

I live in Manchester, Massachusetts.

Why do some things conduct electricity and why do some things not conduct electricity?

Everything is made of atoms.

O'Neill's atoms are kind of a ball with lots of little balls on the outside.

Those balls on the outside are called electrons.

Now some atoms have surplus or extra electrons.

...