You should stop reading right here if you don't have a basic knowledge of atomic structure. The starting point for learning about electricity, and if you're reading this more importantly, electronics, is learning electron theory. Electricity refers to the flow of electrons from an area of greater concentration to an area of lesser concentration. When you flip a light switch, you are closing a simple electrical circuit by allowing electron flow, or current to flow from the energy source, through the switch, through the copper wiring in the wall, to the light, illuminating the filament in the bulb, which produces heat and light, and the flow of electrons continues until it reaches the ground.

In an atom, protons are thought to have a positive charge, and electrons are thought to have a negative charge. Protons repel protons and electrons repel electrons, but protons and electrons attract each other.

Electrons move rather than protons because the protons wiegh approximately 8000 times more than electrons. electricity is electrons moving. In order to make electrons move, it is necessary to have a negatively charged field "push it" or a positively charge field "pull it." An electronic circuit uses both. (a pushing and pulling of forces).

Electrons are able to move because different elements contain different numbers of electrons in their "outer rings." To help explain this, imagine an atom with 3 electrons. Two electrons would be orbiting the atom in the first layer. The third electron would orbit by itself in a second "outer" layer. The outer layer would be full when it contains 8 electrrons. Adding more electrons, a third layer would be full when it contains 18 electrons. Atoms that have an outer ring that is very low in electrons will lose that electron to an atom that has an outer ring that is close to being full. The only atoms that have a "full" outer shell of electrons are the noble gasses (Neon, Argon, Xenon, Radon, etc.)

Some elements such as copper have electons that can be easily dislodged and can pass freely in the open space around the atom. This is what makes electronic current possible. Elements that easily pass electrons are called conductors and are said to "conduct" electricity. Copper is generally used in electronics because it is a very good conductor, has a higher melting point, is very malleable (softness, which makes it very useful for making wire), and is cheaper than other elements such as gold, which actually works better than copper in electronics.