Photo Discussion
Category: Friendly Praise Archive

Birds are able to sit on electrical power lines because the electrical current essentially ignores the bird's presence and continues to travel through the wire. A bird's body is not a good conductor of electricity. Electricity flows using the least amount of resistance possible. In electrical power lines, electricity flows along copper wires. Copper is an excellent conductor of electricity in that it allows electricity to flow easily along its surface. A bird, on the other hand, is made of cells and tissues. These cells and tissues do not provide the electricity in the wire with an easier route to travel than the one it is already on. Because a bird's body is not a good conductor of electricity, the electricity essentially ignores the bird on the wire and continues to travel along the copper wiring to its destination.