35 Amazing Facts about Electricity | Amazing Facts 4U
- Modern society relies heavily on the convenience and versatility of electricity. It powers your microwave, helps light your house, runs your industry, lets you watch TV and so much more.
- Electricity amazingly travels at the speed of light i.e. more than 300,000 km per second!
- Voltage means electrical pressure. You can think of it as the pressure that pushes water through your garden hose. The higher the voltage the more electricity there is flowing through the power line.
- The movement of electric charge is known as an electric current, and the intensity of which is usually measured in amperes (Amps). An electrical current is created from the electrons bumping into each other. Whilst each particle barely moves, the signal that is created from each small movement is near the speed of light.
- Electric potential energy is measured in volts. Electricity is generated when the electrons in a substance are passed along a conductor such as a metal wire.
- Electricity travels in closed loops or circuits. It must have a complete path before the electrons can move. If a circuit is open, the electrons cannot flow.
- Two positive charges repel each other, as do two negative charges. Opposite charges on the other hand attract each other. Electric fields work in a similar way to gravity with an important exception being that while gravity always attracts, electric fields can either attract or repulse.
- Static electricity occurs when the electrons from one object jump to another object building up an electric charge on the surface of an object. A spark of static electricity can amazingly measure up to three thousand (3,000) volts while a bolt of lightning can measure up to three million volts and it lasts less than one second.
- Lightning is a discharge of electricity in the atmosphere. Lightning bolts can travel at around 2,10,000 kph, and reach nearly 30,000 °C in temperature.
- Electricity always tries to find the easiest path to the ground.
- Benjamin Franklin didn’t discover electricity, but he did prove that lightning is a form of electrical energy. He also invented the lightning rod in the 18th century to protect buildings in the event of lightning.
- The first electric battery was in fact developed by Alessandro Volta in 1800. He discovered that when two strips of different metals were put in a sulphuric acid solution and connected with a wire, electricity began to flow.
- Michael Faraday discovered and implemented the use of copper wire and magnets to channel electricity the most popular way electricity is currently produced.
- The first power plant owned by Thomas Edison opened in New York City in 1882.
- Thomas Edison amazingly invented more than 2,000 new products, including almost everything needed for us to use electricity in our homes: switches, fuses, sockets, and meters.
- In the late-1800s, Nikola Tesla pioneered the generation, transmission, and use of alternating current (AC) electricity, which can be transmitted over much greater distances than direct current. Tesla’s inventions used electricity to bring indoor lighting to our homes and to power industrial machines.
- After transportation, electric energy is converted into mechanical energy, thermal energy, light energy, chemical energy, etc.
- The fact that electricity can’t be easily stored means that production must be fine-tuned to consumption levels on a short-term basis.
- Electricity can be made from wind, water, the sun, nuclear fuel, and coal.
- The world’s biggest source of energy for producing electricity comes from coal. The burning of coal in furnaces heats boiler water until it becomes steam which then spins turbines attached to generators.
- All the power plants that generate electrical energy actually change other forms of energy into electricity.
- A generator is a device that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. The process is based on the relationship between magnetism and electricity.
- A 600-megawatt natural gas plant can power 220,000 homes.
- The difference between the direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) is in the way the electrons flow. In DC electrons move in a single direction while in AC they change directions, switching between backward and forwards. The electricity use in your home is AC while DC comes from sources that include batteries.
- At the power station, the electric current is generated with a voltage of 25,000 volts. Shortly after the current leaves the power station, it is fed into a ‘grid’ substation. The substation contains a device called a transformer which increases or steps up the voltage to 400,000 volts ready for its journey to wherever it’s needed.
- The reason why voltage is raised is that if a wire or overhead line is carrying a large electric current, it heats up and energy is wasted by heating. If instead, the electricity is transmitted at a really high voltage, the current we need to transfer the same amount of energy can be much less and so less energy is wasted as heat.
- Overhead lines are carried long distances across the countryside on tall metal pylons out of reach of people. Power lines may also be buried underground for extra safety especially in or near towns and cities. In small towns and villages, power lines may be carried above ground on wooden poles.
- Near to where the electricity is to be used, the voltage is reduced (‘stepped down’) in another substation. The electric current may pass through several substations on its journey to your home or to a factory. Each substation reduces the voltage to whatever is required. Large factories and electric trains may require 33,000 volts, smaller factories may require 11,000 or 450 volts and lower for homes.
- For domestic use, 115 Volts is the standard in US homes while in the UK the standard is 230 Volts.
- In 1791 Luigi Galvani published his discovery of bioelectricity, demonstrating that electricity was the medium by which nerve cells passed signals to the muscles.
- Electricity plays a role in the way your heartbeats. Muscle cells in the heart are contracted by electricity going through the heart. Electrocardiogram (ECG) machines used in hospitals measure the electricity going through someone’s heart, when the person is healthy it usually shows a line moving across a screen with regular spikes as the heartbeats.
- Iceland was the first country ever to produce all its electrical energy from renewable sources.
- We are often careless and waste electricity. e.g. A photocopier left on overnight uses enough energy to produce over 1500 copies. Lighting an office overnight wastes enough energy to heat water for 1000 cups of tea. A typical window left open overnight in winter will waste enough energy to drive a small car over 35 miles. A PC monitor switched on overnight wastes enough energy to microwave six dinners.
- If a bird sits on just one power line it is safe. The moment it touches another line with a wing or foot, it creates a circuit causing electrocution.
- Electric eels can produce strong electric shocks of around 600 volts for both self-defense and hunting.
Visit and subscribe to our blog! Get enriching & uplifting quotes right in your inbox: www.wisdomlifequotes.com
