ELECTRICITY

By: Grant Balconi

A mysterious forceSINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE UNIVERSE, there was

electricity. Even when there was no life on planet earth, more than 4 billion years ago, great bolts, illuminated the skies. Lighting is one of nature’s most amazing demonstrations of the energy form we call electricity.

Investigating cathode raysIT WAS KNOWN IN THE 18TH CENTURY that a gas at

low pressure inside a tube could be made to glow by passing a discharge from an electrostatic machine through it. In the latter part of the 19th century new electrical apparatus enabled scientists to study the effect more thoroughly.

In transportationELECTRIC ENERGY SUPPLIES power to subways,

trolleys, and trains that carry millions of people to and from work. Most cars use electric sparks to ignite the gasoline.

Manufactured electricityELECTRICITY IS A MANUFACTURED PRODUCT. It

isn’t something you can pump out of the ground or mine or collect from the sun or wind. Electric power is manufactured from a rotating machine we call a electric generator.

Collecting electric charge

TODAY, CHARGE-PRODUCING ELECTROSTATIC GENERATORS are an unfamiliar sight confined to museum and research laboratories.

Electric motorsIN MANY WAYS THEIR INTRODUCTION WAS MORE

revolutionary than the steam engine. The motor’s principle was appreciated for decades before the first commercialized generator of electricity.

Moving toysELECTRIC CHARGE was used to make moving scenes

in toys. A metal point was connected to a charge. The charge was sprayed off the end of the point and jumped to the vanes, moving the models around.

Fun facts1. One lightning bolt has enough electricity to service 200,000 homes.

2. First Lighthouse to use electricity - Statue of Liberty (1886)

3. Experiments of Count Alassandro Volta along with Luigi Galvani, applying electricity to frogs legs and making them jump when touched by an electric wire, prompted Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley to write FRANKENSTEIN in 1818.

4. In 1957 a battery was discovered in Bagdad. It was made by the Parthians, who ruled Bagdad from 250 B.C.E. to 224 C.E., and was used to electroplate silver.

5. The Brooklyn Bridge was the first bridge to be lit using electricity.

6. Every year, American homes waste more than $13 billion in energy - an average of $150 per family.

Resources /THANKSGOOGLE IMAGES

EYEWITTNESS BOOKS (ELECTRICITY)

ENERGIES (BOOK) AUTHER SMIL, VACLAV

WORLD BOOK (E)

GOOGLE FACTS (ELECTRICITY)

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE AUTHOR OF ELECTRICITY PARKER, STEVE AND THE REVISED EDITION PUBLISHING DIRECTOR SUTINIS, BETH