Nancy Boda, age 9, of Costa Mesa, California, for her question:

Is electricity a solid, liquid or gas?

People say that our world is made of solids, liquids and gases    and stop right there. Maybe they should go on to say that there are a lot of other things in our world. We have warm sunshine and sweet sounding music and a long list of other things that are not solids, liquids or gases. Many of the items on this list are forms of energy that make things happen. Solids, liquids and gases are forms of matter. And energy is not a form of matter.

Electricity is a form of energy    and therefore it is not a solid, a liquid or a gas. However, like other forms of energy it works with forms of matter. Solid wires carry its current of energy and a switch on the solid wall makes its energy light a lamp. A knob on the stove acts to free energy to heat a pot of liquid water. Energy from the electric current boils the water and changes the liquid to steamy gas.