The electric energy (electrical energy, electricity) is the potential energy associated with the conservative

Coulomb forces between charged particles contained within a system, where the reference potential
energy is usually chosen to be zero for particles at infinite separation.
The movement of electric charge is known as an electric current, and intensity of which is usually
measured in amperes.Current can consist of any moving charged particles most commonly these are
electrons,but any charge in motion constitutes a current.
The energy sources we use to make electricity can be renewable or non-renewable, but electricity itself is
neither renewable or non-renewable.
A generator is a device that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. The process is based on the
relationship between magnetism and electricity.
The cost of electricity is going up (both in dollars and in environmental and health impacts) and it doesnt
show any signs of doing otherwise. About half of the energy in the American grid is coal generated.
Electric energy is an intermediate form of energy. It is produced in thermal power stations (where fuel oil,
gas, coal, biomass, etc. are burnt), in hydroelectric power stations and nuclear power stations. Smaller
quantities are produced by wind, photovoltaic solar panels, sea tides, etc.
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.
When electricity was first introduced into the domestic environment it was primarily for lighting.
Electricity is an extremely flexible form of energy, and it may be adapted to a huge, and growing, number
of uses.
Demand for electricity grows with great rapidity as a nation modernises 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.
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.
Electricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and
flow of electric charge.
Before electricity generation began over 100 years ago, houses were lit with kerosene lamps, food was
cooled in iceboxes, and rooms were warmed by wood-burning or coal-burning stoves.
The fact that electricity cant be easily stored means that production must be fine-tuned to consumption
levels on a short term basis.
Electric energy is easily transportable via integrated electric grids. After transportation, electric energy is
converted into mechanical energy, thermal energy, light energy, chemical energy, etc.
Demand for solar electric energy has consistently grown by 20-25% per year over the past 20 years.
A battery produces electricity using two different metals in a chemical solution. A chemical reaction
between the metals and the chemicals frees more electrons in one metal than in the other.

There are several advantages and disadvantages to hydro electric energy production. One big advantage is
that energy is free once the dam is built.
In 1882 water was used to electrify two paper mills and a house on the Fox River. This was the first
application of hydro electric energy.
Electricity is by no means a purely human invention, and may be observed in several forms in nature, a
prominent manifestation of which is lightning.
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 travels at 300,000 km/sec. If you travelled that fast, you could travel around the world
eight times in the time it takes to turn on a light switch.

The energy produced by the atom-splitting of one kilogram of uranium is equivalent to the burning
of 1.3 million kilograms of coal or 1.35 million litres of oil.

The most powerful power station is the Itaipu power station on the Paran River near the
Brazil/Paraguay border. Opened in 1984, the station has attained its ultimate capacity of13,320
MW. (Ten times the size of Limestone!)

Fireflies produce light using chemical energy from their food. The light they give off is more efficient
than that of a light bulb. Fireflies lose only 1/15 of their energy to heat, whereas 95% of the energy
used by an ordinary light bulb is wasted as heat energy. Some deep-sea squids and glowworms in
caves also change the chemical energy from food into light.

Water provides the power to meet 1/5 of the world's electrical demands.

One lightning bolt has enough electricity to service 200 000 homes.
First Lighthouse to use electricity - Statue of Liberty (1886)
In 1800 Count Alassandro Volta made the "voltaic pile", a battery.
His experiments,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.
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.
The Brooklyn Bridge was the first bridge to be lit using electricity.
Every year, American homes waste more than $13 billion in energy - an
average of $150 per family.
More than 10,000 homes in the United States are powered entirely by solar
energy.
The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) was one of the most well known inventors of
all time with 1093 patents
During the whole of his life, Edison received only three months of formal
schooling, and was dismissed from school as being retarded.
The Livermore Centennial Light was manufactured in 1901 by the Shelby
Electric Company. It is a hand-blown bulb with a carbon filament. It uses
approximately 4 watts of electricity. The bulb has been left burning
continuously in the firehouse as a night light over the fire trucks since 1901.
Electrocution is one of the top five causes of workplace deaths.
The first use of water to generate electricity was in 1882 on the Fox river, in the
USA, which produced enough power to light two paper mills and a house.

10 percent of total US generating capacity is fueled by natural gas, about the

same as hydropower. More than half of US capacity is coal-fired, with nuclear
accounting for 20 percent.
$212 billion in electrical bills paid by US customers each year.
An electric oven uses one kilowatt-hour of electricity in about 20 minutes, but
one kilowatt-hour will power a TV for 3 hours, run a 100-watt bulb for 12
hours, and keep an electric clock ticking for 3 months.
An Electric eel can produce an electric shock of up to 650 volts at one ampere.
Currents of approximately 0.2 A are potentially fatal, because they can make
the heart fibrillate, or beat in an uncontrolled manner
Early in their history, Christmas lights were so expensive that they were more
commonly rented than sold. An electrically lighted tree was a status symbol in
the early 1900s.
A 100 watt modern light bulb emits about 1600 lumens, while a single flame
oil lamp form the 1800s emitted about 2400 lumens.