Most autonomous communities are responsible for public services such as town planning and festivals.
Taxes are deducted from workers' salaries and profits that companies make. We pay an extra tax every time we buy something or use a service. This is sales tax or value added tax.
The government collects taxes. These taxes are spent on public services such as schools, hospitals, libraries, street cleaning, building roads and providing for people's pensions when they retire.
Spain's 1978 Constitution established the organisation of the regions. It divided Spain's territory into 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities, Ceuta and Melilla, which are in North Africa.
There are 50 provinces.
Each autonomous community has its own Statute of Autonomy. The Statute of Autonomy defines:
The territory of each autonomous community.
The governmental institutions.
Its official language(s), flag, coat of arms and anthem.
An autonomous community is subdivided into:
A regional parliament, which has legislative powers.
A government, which has executive powers.
A Superior Court of Justice, which has judicial powers.
By Emilio Gómez Fernández & Javi C. S. [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The Spanish Constitution established the basic laws of the country.
The Constitution established the division of powers: legislative, executive and judicial. each power is controlled by only one institution, so they're independent. Legislative power is exercised by the Parliament (Cortes Generales).
Parliament makes the laws, approves the state budget and monitors the activity of the government.
It's made up of two parts: the lower house, or Congress (Congreso de los Diputados) and the upper house, or Senate (el Senado).
Deputies work in Congress and Senators work in the Senate. The senators represent the autonomous communties.
Deputies and Senators are elected by citizens in general elections every four years. Executive power is exercised by the government. The government is composed of its leader, the president, and the ministers. The ministers are responsible for specific areas such as economy, education, health or industry. The government headquarters is Moncloa Palace.
Judicial power is exercised by the judicial system. It interprets the law and decides who is obeying the law or not. The judicial system imposes punishment for those who break the law. Judges work in courts and tribunals.
When the circuit is closed and the current flows through the circuit, it produces a magnetic field in the electromagnet. The hammer is attracted to the elctromagnet and hits the bell. The movement of the hammer breaks the circuit and the hammer returns to its original position. Then the cycle begins again.
MAGLEV
A magnetic levitation train uses electromagnets to levitate above its track.
The maglev has electromagnets in the base of the train.
The tracks have magnets which repel the electromagnets in the train.
The magnets above and in front of the train attract the magnets in the train, causing the train to move forward.
SPEAKERS AND MICROPHONES
Electric current travels through the coil of wire. This creates a magnetic field that switches on and off rapidly.
The magnetic field attracts the magnet, which is attached to the cone.
The cone vibrates rapidly, producing sound waves.
Spain is a democracy. This means that there is freedom, justice and equality.
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes fundamental human rights for all.
THERMAL ENERGY
The electric current produces a little thermal energy as it travels through a wire, but it produces a lot of thermal energy travelling through other substances (in an oven...).
A toaster uses thermal energy from electricity. Nick carson at en.wikipedia [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
Electrolysis is a chemical reaction produced when an electric current flows through a liquid solution of charged particles. We us elctrolysis in electroplating: coating a metal object with a thin layer of another metal.
The Earth has a magnetic field called the magnetosphere. It extends from the South Pole to the North Pole (it's as if the earth had a bar magnet in its centre). The North Pole is the South Pole of the Earth's magnetosphere.
Magnetosphere. By NASA (http://sec.gsfc.nasa.gov/popscise.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
WHAT CAUSES THE MAGNETOSPHERE?
The centre of the Earth is made of liquid iron. This liquid moves slowly as the Earth rotates causing a magnetic field to form around the whole planet.
USING A COMPASS
A compass has a magnetised steel needle that is balanced inside a container. The north pole of the needle is painted red. It is attracted to the south pole of the magnetosphere: the magnetic north pole of the Earth. It will always point north.
Compass. By Evan-Amos (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
WHY IS THE MAGNETOSPHERE IMPORTANT?
It deflects solar radiation from the Sun back into space. Radiation is harmful for plant and animal life on Earth.
It also helps us to navigate using a compass.
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