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Electricity By: Jordan Ward Definition of electricity…. • Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the flow of electric charge. Electricity gives a lot of benefits to people today, such as lightning, static electricity, electromagnetic induction and electrical current. Where did electricity come from? • The common assumption of electricity’s discovery was Benjamin Franklin found electricity in lightning. But there’s a keyword in that sentence, “discovered”. You might be surprised to learn that electricity was actually found in magnets! • In the early 1800s, Michael Faraday discovered "electromagnetic induction", which means that if he moved a magnet through a loop of wire, the wire would become electrified. • In 1882, Thomas Edison opened the first full-scale power plant in New York City. Edison's electric generator was bigger than Faraday's basic experiment; a big magnet rotates around a wire to produce an electric current. Today's power plants are bigger and controlled by computers, but the basic process is still the same as it was nearly 120 years ago. Electrical creation Where does electricity come from? Most of the electricity we use today, comes from power plants. The power plants split atoms of heavy material such as uranium and plutonium. The heat produced is used to convert water into steam at high pressure. This steam, then turns a windmill-like device called a turbine which is connected to a electricity generator. The constant spinning produces electricity. Where is it commonly found? • Typically electricity is found in power plants, but it truly depends if you mean the ROOT of where electricity is found. Each renewable resource, such as wind, water, solar and hydropower, can be found in different areas. • Wind: Wind of course is all around us, all we have to do is generate a form of machinery to generate wind and store it for when its needed. • Water: Power plants use water to convert the energy in falling water into electricity by passing it through turbines. • Solar Power: Solar power cells convert sunlight into electricity, using the energy of speeding photons to create an electrical current within a solar panel. Photons are created in the center of the sun by the fusion of atoms. How is electricity transported? • The most commonly used electricity comes from batteries we buy in the stores. But once the rest of our electrical needs are produced by the power plants, they are sent down an electrical wire connected to the generator. Then they stream down the lines out of the power plant and to the first transformer or substation. Then it moves on through the power lines and to the next substation or transformer. Once the substations and transformers reduce the electrical voltage, the electricity goes through the power lines one last time and to another transformer on the poles. Finally, the electricity goes into your household generator. Ready to power anything you plug into the walls. Renewable or Non-Renewable? • Is electricity renewable? Electricity is a renewable resource IF we are talking about lightning. Otherwise, electricity has to be produced through fossil fuels this classifies electricity as a nonrenewable resource. How is electricity used in our daily lives? • This is probably the simplest question in the whole PowerPoint. We all know we use electricity when we watch TV, go to the doctor’s office, cook, and even turn up the air conditioning. Electricity is very important to our health, jobs, and education. • For example: • 1: What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of electricity? • Advantages • It is transportable over long • • • • • distances It is silent It can be used produce magnetic fields, which can be used to propel motors It is very transformable It is very fast, virtually the speed of light It can be used to produce other forms of radiant energy, such as radio waves, microwaves, radiant heat and light • Disadvantages • It can kill you • We become dependent on it • We use other dirtier forms of energy (nuclear, fossil fuels) to produce it • There is growing concern that the magnetic fields around transmission lines may be unhealthy How much electricity do we use? • In a single family home, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,837 kWh, an average of 903 kilowatthours (kWh) per month. Louisiana had the highest annual consumption at 15,046 kWh and Maine the lowest at 6,367 kWh. This is the latest calculation that was recorded for 2012. It has been last updated January 10, 2014. How do we use it? • Electricity is used everyday in a single family home for pleasurable and survival purposes. The most powered item in a home surprisingly is the heating and cooling system rather than electronics. Yet the most paid item to be powered in MY home is probably the television, and phone data bills. How is electricity measured? • When I first read this question I assumed it was measured in volts but electricity is truly measured in watts. • Watts: Watts are a measurement of power, describing the rate at which electricity is being used at a specific moment. For example, a 15-watt LED light bulb draws 15 watts of electricity at any moment when turned on. Watt-hours are a measurement of energy, describing the total amount of electricity used over time. Let’s Review!!!