system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: When electricity is generated, where do the electrons come from?
gpt
The electrons don't come from anywhere, they are already there. What is happening is that you can put a pressure (voltage) that causes the electrons to flow in a direction, like down a wire. In the case of DC, they hop from atom to atom all the way down your wire from one end to the other. In the case of AC, they flow back and forth over and over.