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History and Definition - Lite (really--no pun intended) Electricity is the flow of electrical power or charge. Electrical energy is usually generated by electro-mechanical generators driven by steam produced from fossil fuel combustion, or the heat released from nuclear reactions; or from other sources such as kinetic energy extracted from wind or flowing water.
Electricity would remain little more than an intellectual curiosity for millennia until 1600, when the English physician William Gilbert made a careful study of electricity and magnetism. Before this time, observers had carefully noted electric charges from certain fish, and discovered that electric charges could be had by rubbing certain substances together. Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research in electricity, selling his possessions to fund his work. In June 1752 he is reputed to have attached a metal key to the bottom of a dampened kite string and flown the kite in a storm-threatened sky. He observed a succession of sparks jumping from the key to the back of his hand, showing that lightning was indeed electrical in nature. In 1791 Luigi Galvani published his discovery of bioelectricity, demonstrating that electricity was the medium by which nerve cells passed signals to the muscles. Alessandro Volta's battery, or voltaic pile, of 1800, made from alternating layers of zinc and copper, provided scientists with a more reliable source of electrical energy than the electrostatic machines previously used. The late 19th century would see the greatest progress in electrical engineering. Through such people as Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Ottó Bláthy, George Westinghouse, Ernst Werner von Siemens, Alexander Graham Bell and Lord Kelvin, electricity was turned from a scientific curiosity into an essential tool for modern life, becoming a driving force for the Second Industrial Revolution.
The invention in the late nineteenth century of the transformer meant that electricity could be generated at centralized power stations, benefiting from economies of scale, and be transmitted across countries with increasing efficiency. Demand for electricity grows with great rapidity as a nation modernizes and its economy develops. The United States showed a 12% increase in demand during each year of the first three decades of the twentieth century, a rate of growth that is now being experienced by emerging economies such as those of India or China. Historically, the growth rate for electricity demand has outstripped that for other forms of energy.
Today, humans have an intimate relationship with electricity, to the point that it's virtually impossible to separate your life from it. Sure, you can flee from the world of crisscrossing power lines and live your life completely off the grid, but even at the loneliest corners of the world, electricity exists. (How Stuff Works) |
www.SaveOnUtilities.com. has been developing for months. But the actual construction of this site was begun on February 11, 2009. The site will be THE comprehensive site for consumers, showing them the myriad of ways they can save on their utility expense. This column will be available to those wishing to advertise their utility, their product, or their service. Contact us at: trimutilities@aol.com to arrange for your ad. The site will be substantially completed within a month, but if you wait until that moment, space may well be taken. This is the time to strike a deal for a bargain ad. We have posted the site early for this purpose.
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Electricity is an extremely flexible
form of energy, and has been adapted to a huge, and growing, number of
uses. The invention of a practical incandescent light bulb in the
1870s led to lighting becoming one of the first publicly available
applications of electrical power. Although electrification brought
with it its own dangers, replacing the naked flames of gas lighting
greatly reduced fire hazards within homes and factories. Public
utilities were set up in many cities targeting the burgeoning market
for electrical lighting. Edison made the first practical light bulb in
1870. Night became day, and human productivity expanded. With electricity ceasing to be a novelty and
becoming a necessity of everyday life in the later half of the 20th
century, it required particular attention by popular culture only when
it stops flowing, an event that usually signals disaster.
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