What keeps electricity from escaping?

Answer 1

The impedance mismatch is such that two identical waves are created at the end of the wires which are in anti phase to both the incoming current and the current launched into the room. Hence both are cancelled. However, the voltages are not cancelled and the voltage wave does escape into the room. It is responsible for hum that audio equipment is prone to unless screened.

Someone said: "Because it needs a path way in which to travel". But it has one: the air. The point is that the wire to air mismatch is so huge that the cancellation I referred to takes place and the overall current flow is zero. Talk about pathways or conductors and insulators is only a simplified way of looking at the flow of electromagnetic energy.

Anyway James Thurber's aunt reckoned it did escape and caused all sorts of problems. The escaped energy I mean, though I dare say his aunt caused a few problems as well.

Answer 2

Electricity is a form of energy that starts with atoms. You can't see atoms because they're too small, but they make up everything around us. There are three parts to an atom: protons, neutrons and electrons. Electricity is created when electrons move from atom to atom. Electricity travels though wires that are insulated to prevent the escape of the electrons. All the wires are made of metal – usually aluminum or copper. That's because metal is a good conductor – electricity travels through it easily. It stays in the wires because it is a good conductor and it is traveling toward ground. There is a slight amount of electricity that does escape in the form of an electromagnetic field, but it is minimal.

Answer 3

The insulation on the conductor keeps the current from leaving the wire.