CHAPT INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRICITY

ER 1

Learning outcomes At the end of this chapter, the students must have:

1. discussed the history of electricity

2. recognized the contributions of inventors and their inventions in the field electricity
3. devised a timeline of inventions in electricity

overview

The word “electricity” may evoke an image of complex modern technology: lights,
motors, electronics, and computers. But the electric force plays an even deeper role on our lives.
According to atomic theory, electric forces between atoms and molecules hold then together to form
liquids and solids, and electric forces are also involved in metabolic processes that occur within our
bodies. Many of the forces we have d dealt with so far, such as elastic forces, the normal force, and
friction and other contact forces (pushes and pulls), are now considered to result from electric forces
acting at the atomic level. Gravity, on the other hand, is a separate force.

The earliest studies on electricity date back to the ancients, but only since the late
1700s has electricity been studied in detail. We will discuss the development of ideas about
electricity, including practical devices, as well as its relation to magnetism, in the next modules.

Indicative content

Introduction to Electricity
 Origin of Electricity
 Inventors & Inventions Timeline

Discovery of

When was electricity discovered?

The most primitive electrical and magnetic phenomena -- the attraction of dry light material
such as chaff to rubbed amber, and the attraction of iron to loadstone -- were no doubt observed
before recorded history began. However, as far as history is concerned, these phenomena were not
recorded by the Egyptians or any other pre-Greek civilization. The first definite statement is by
Thales of Miletus (about 585B.C.) who said loadstone attracts iron because it has a soul. The
prevailing view at the time was that movement of any kind indicated life, or a soul, or a god. In fact,
it was advanced thinking on Thales’ part to think that the loadstone’s moving of the iron was caused
by itself rather than by the intervention of some god. Actually Miletus was a very multicultural

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environment -- a flourishing commercial city in Asia Minor (now part of Turkey), trading with
Babylon and also Egypt, where Thales travelled. This mixture of cultures meant that there was not a
strongly repressive religious orthodoxy, as was often the case in primitive (and not so primitive)
societies, so freedom of inquiry was tolerated. Sad to report, this did not lead to a more enlightened
political system -- it was a slave based society, with bloody rebellion and repression.

An early Greek word for the sun - ηλεχτορ - pronounced "elector" - was also used to describe
amber, because of its sunshiny color. Amber is the fossilized resin of a now extinct coniferous tree;
almost all of it comes from the Baltic region in Northern Europe. Of course, this is the stuff that
preserves insects from millions of years ago. It was greatly prized in the early world as jewelry, and
used as such in Greece from the earliest recorded times. Amber came to be called "electron" by the
Greek classic writers, but this term also referred to native gold and silver-gold alloys (same color).

History of Electricity

Starting With
Ben Franklin------------------------------------------------------------

Many people think Benjamin Franklin discovered

electricity with his famous kite-flying experiments
in 1752, but electricity was not discovered all at once.
At first, electricity was associated with light. People
wanted a cheap and safe way to light their homes,
and scientists thought electricity might be a way.

Mr. Edison and

His Light---------------------------------------------

In 1879, Thomas Edison focused on inventing a practical

light bulb, one that would last a long time before burning out.
The problem was finding a strong material for the filament,
the small wire inside the bulb that conducts electricity.
Finally, Edison used ordinary cotton thread that had been
soaked in carbon. This filament didn’t burn at all—it became
incandescent; that is, it glowed.
The next challenge was developing an electrical system that could provide people with a practical source of
energy to power these new lights. Edison wanted a way to make electricity both practical and inexpensive. He
designed and built the first electric power plant that was able to produce electricity and carry it to people’s
homes.

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Edison’s Pearl Street Power Station started up its generator on September 4, 1882, in New York City. About
85 customers in lower Manhattan received enough power to light 5,000 lamps. His customers paid a lot for
their electricity, though. In today’s dollars, the electricity cost $5.00 per kilowatt-hour! Today, electricity
costs about 12 cents per kilowatt-hour for residential customers, about 10 cents for commercial, and about 7
cents per kilowatt-hour for industry.

The Batterry---------------------------------------------------------------

Learning how to produce and use electricity was not easy.

For a long time there was no dependable source of
electricity for experiments. Finally, in 1800, Alessandro
Volta, an Italian scientist, made a great discovery. He
soaked paper in salt water, placed zinc and copper on
opposite sides of the paper, and watched the chemical
reaction produce an electric current. Volta had created
the first electric cell. By connecting many of these
cells together, Volta was able to “string a current” and
create a battery. It is in honor of Volta that we rate
batteries in volts. Finally, a safe and dependable source
of electricity was available, making it easy for scientists
to study electricity.

AC or
DC?----------------------------------------------------------
In 1920, about two percent of the energy in the
-----
U.S. was used to make electricity. Today, about 39
The turning point of the electric age came a few years percent of all energy is used to make electricity.
As our use of technology grows, that figure will
later with the development of AC (alternating current) continue to rise.
power systems. With alternating current, power plants
could transport electricity much farther than before. In A Current
1895, George Westinghouse opened the first major Began-------------------------------------
power plant at Niagara Falls using alternating current.
While Edison’s DC (direct current) plant could only An English scientist, Michael Faraday, was the
transport electricity within one square mile of his Pearl first one to realize that an electric current could be
Street Power Station, the Niagara Falls plant was able to produced by passing a magnet through a copper
transport electricity more than 200 miles! Electricity wire. It was an amazing discovery. Almost all the
didn’t have an easy beginning. Many people were electricity we use today is made with magnets and
coils of copper wire in giant power plants. Both the
thrilled with all the new inventions, but some people
electric generator and electric motor are based on
were afraid of electricity and wary of bringing it into this principle. A generator converts motion energy
their homes. Many social critics of the day saw into electricity. A motor converts electrical energy
electricity as an end to a simpler, less hectic way of life. into motion energy.
 2750 BCE --- Ancient Egyptian were aware of shocks from electric
(End) fish, Thunderer of the
Poets commented that electric
Nile (protectors" lights
of all were
other less romantic
fish)
than gas lights. Perhaps they Inventors & new
were right, but the
 Electric fish were again reported millennia later by ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic
naturalists and physicians.
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 They attested to the numbing effect of electric shocks delivered by catfish and electric
rays, and knew that such shocks could travel along conducting objects
 Ancient cultures around the Mediterranean knew that certain objects, such as rods of
amber, could be rubbed with cat's fur to attract light objects like feathers

 600 BCE --- Thales of Miletus made a series of observations on static electricity
 247 BC – 224 AD, old Persia --- The Parthians may have had knowledge of electroplating,
based on the 1936 discovery of the Baghdad Battery, which resembles a galvanic cell.

 The earliest and nearest approach to the discovery of the identity of lightning, and
electricity from any other source, is to be attributed to the Arabs, who before the 15th
century had the Arabic word for lightning (raad) applied to the electric ray
 Electricity would remain little more than an intellectual curiosity for millennia until 1600.
The English scientist William Gilbert (father of electricity and magnetism) made a careful
study of electricity and magnetism, distinguishing the lodestone effect from static
electricity produced by rubbing amber. He coined the New Latin word “electricus” (the
Greek word for "amber")
 Further work was conducted by Otto von Guericke, Robert Boyle, Stephen Gray and C. F.
du Fay. In the 18th century most people give credit to Benjamin Franklin for discovering
electricity.

 1752 --- Ben Franklin conducted his experiment with a kite, a key, and a storm. This simply
proved that lightning and tiny electric sparks were the same thing.

 Up until that time, scientists had mainly known about and experimented with static
electricity. Benjamin Franklin took things a big step ahead. He came up with the idea that
electricity had positive and negative elements and that electricity flowed between these
elements.

 1791 --- Luigi Galvani published his discovery of bio electromagnetics, demonstrating that
electricity was the medium by which neurons passed signals to the muscles.

 1800 --- Alessandro Volta's battery, or voltaic pile, made from alternating layers of zinc and
copper, provided scientists with a more reliable source of electrical energy than the
electrostatic machines previously used.

 When a wire was connected to both ends of the pile, a steady current flowed

 1821 --- First electric motor was invented by Michael Faraday

 1832 --- Hippolyte Pixii - the first “dynamo,” an electric generator capable of delivering
power for industry (Using Faraday’s principles.
 1839-1842 --- Sir William Robert Grove developed the first fuel cell, a device that produces
electrical energy by combining hydrogen and oxygen
 1878 --- Joseph Swan, and Englishman, invented the first incandescent light bulb/electric
lamp. His light bulb burned out quickly.

 Charles Brush developed an arc lamp that could be powered by a generator.

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 Thomas Edison founded the Edison Electric Light Co. (US), in New York City. He
bought a number of patents related to electric lighting.

 1879 --- Thomas Edison invented an incandescent light bulb that could be used for about 40
hours without burning out. By 1880 his bulbs could be used for 1200 hours.

 Electric lights were first used for public street lighting, in Cleveland, Ohio. California
Electric Light Company, Inc. in San Fransicso was the first electric company to sell
electricity to customers. The company used two small Brush generators to power 21
Brush arc light lamps.

 1881 --- The electric streetcar was invented by E.W. Siemens

 1882 --- Thomas Edison opened the Pearl Street Power Station in New York City.The Pearl
Street Station was one of the world’s first central electric power plants and could power 5,000
lights. The Pearl Street Station was a direct current (DC) power system.

 The first hydroelectric station opened in Wisconsin.

 1883 --- Nikola Tesla invented the “Tesla coil”, a transformer that changes electricity from
low voltage to high voltage making it easier to transport over long distances.

 Steam turbine generator, capable of generating huge amounts of electricity, was invented
by Sir Charles Algernon Parsons.

 1888 --- Charles Brush, the first use of a large windmill to generate electricity. He used the
windmill to charge batteries in the cellar of his home in Cleveland, Ohio.
 1893 --- A 22 mile AC power line was opened, sending electricity from Folsom Powerhouse
in California to Sacramento.

 1896 --- An AC power line that transmits power 20 miles from Niagra Falls to Buffalo, New
York was opened.
 1901 --- First power line between USA and Canada at Niagra Falls.
 1902 --- 5-Megawatt turbine for Fisk St. Station (Chicago).
 1903 --- First successful gas turbine (France) & World’s first all turbine station (Chicago).
 1921 --- Lakeside Power Plant in Wisconsin becomes the world’s first power plant to burn
only pulverized coal.
 1923 --- Photoelectric cells were discovered.
 1928 --- Construction of Boulder Dam begins.
 1936 --- Boulder (Hoover) Dam was completed. A 287 Kilovolt power line stretched 266
miles to Boulder (Hoover) Dam.
 1953 --- First nuclear power station ordered in England.
 1954 --- World’s first nuclear power plant (Russia) started generating electricity.

 Atomic Energy Act of 1954 allows private ownership of nuclear reactors.

 1957 --- Shipping port Reactor in Pennsylvania was the first nuclear power plant to provide
electricity to customers in the U.S.
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 Two 1600 MW European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs) are being built in Europe, and two
are being built in China. The reactors are a joint effort of French AREVA and German
Siemens AG, and will be the largest reactors in the world.

 2007 --- there are seven nuclear power stations under construction in India, and five in China.
 2011 --- Gulf Power stated that by the end of 2012 it hopes to finish buying off 4000 acres of
land north of Pensacola, Florida in order to build a possible nuclear power station.
 2010 --- Russia launched a floating nuclear power station. The 100 million vessels, the
Akademik Lomonosov, is the first of seven stations that will bring vital energy resources to
remote Russian regions.
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity

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