2. The separation or movement of electrons and protons; either the separation of charges by friction, static electricity, or the movement of charges caused by magnetism and chemical batteries, current flow.
3. A form of energy expressed by the activity of electrons and other subatomic particles in motion, as in dynamic electricity, or at rest, as in static electricity.
Electricity may be negative, when there is a surplus of electrons, or positive, when there is a surplus of protons or a deficiency of electrons.
4. A fundamental quantity in nature which is at rest and has an electric field that possesses potential energy and which can exact force.Electricity in motion (an electric current) has both electric and magnetic fields which possess potential energy and can exert force.
Atmospheric electricity is an electrical phenomena, regarded collectively, that occurs in the Earth's atmosphere.
These phenomena include not only such striking manifestations as lightning and St. Elmo's fire, but also less noticeable but more ubiquitous effects, such as atmospheric ionization, the air–earth currents, and other quiescent electrical processes.
The existence of separated electric charges in the atmosphere is a consequence of many minor processes, such as spray electrification, dust electrification, etc. and a few major processes including cosmic-ray ionization, radioactive-particle ionization, and thunderstorm electrification.
The maintenance of the prevailing atmospheric electric field is now widely believed to be due to thunderstorm effects.
2. Charged particles, most often electrons, moving through a conductor or transmitter; such as, copper and aluminum.
3. A flow of charged particles; such as, electrons or protons, accompanied by the field which they generate.
4. Movement of electric charge carriers.
In a wire, electric current is a flow of electrons that have been dislodged from atoms and is a measure of the quantity of electrical charge passing any point of the wire per unit of time.
There would be no electrical equipment, no electronic devices, and there would certainly be no computers to transmit information such as is being done here.
Electricity has expanded in use far beyond its original discovery
People in many parts of the world are surrounded by gadgets, appliances, and machines run by electricity and just about every place where we live or work as well as places of entertainment, both indoors and outdoors, we can see electricity in action.
Almost every aspect of human activities seems to depend on electricity for existence.
The Latin word, electrum, means to "produce from amber by friction"; so, we get our English word electricity from Greek and Latin words that were both about amber.
Electricity came from an ancient Greek word that means "produced by amber" and that Greek word was in existence many centuries before electricity was actually developed by humans.
Why did the discoverers of electricity choose such an old word for something so new? Amber came from tree resin that hardened over centuries and when it was rubbed, amber produced static electricity and attracted light objects.
Amber is a golden brown "stone" that sparkles orange and yellow in sunlight and it is actually fossilized tree sap!
Millions of years ago insects got stuck in the tree sap and those small insects which had bitten the dinosaurs are now fossilized in the amber.
The ancient Greeks observed this characteristic of amber and had a word for it, without knowing what caused it; that is, elektron which became our word, "electricity".
The current term for "electricity" is derived from the word electrica, first used by William Gilbert (1544-1603) in his epoch-making treatise De magnete, magneticisque corporibus, et de magno magnete tellure, published in 1600, to denote substances which possess a similar property to amber = electrum referring to attracting light objects when rubbed.
Benjamin Franklin introduced the concept of "positive electricity" and "negative electricity", and in 1752, he showed that lightning and electricity were the same components.
In the 19th century, a great number of industrial applications were introduced, based on magnetic, chemical, thermal, optical, and other properties of electricity.
As a consequence of electricity and electronics, the world has become a "global village" where anything happening in the remotest part of the world can be known to the whole world instantly, and people from all areas of the earth can interact and discuss matters of common interest in "real time".
Electricity is both a basic part of nature and one of our most widely used global forms of energy
Electricity is actually a secondary energy source known as an energy carrier. This means we get electricity from the conversion of other sources of energy; such as, coal, nuclear, wind, water power, solar energy, etc.
These sources of energy for electricity are called primary sources and the energy sources used to make electricity can be renewable or non-renewable, but electricity itself is neither renewable nor nonrenewable.
Electricity use has resulted in dramatic changes in the way our world exists because before electricity became available over 100 years ago, houses had no light at night or people used candles, then kerosene lamps. Food was cooled in iceboxes (or not at all), and rooms were warmed by wood-burning or coal-burning stoves.
Many scientists and inventors have worked to decipher the principles of electricity since the 1600s and notable accomplishments were made by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla.
Today, scientists are still studying electricity and learning more about it. They've learned that all citizens need to practice good safety habits, since electricity can be very dangerous.
Benjamin Franklin demonstrated that lightning is electricity, Thomas Edison invented the first long-lasting incandescent light bulb and Nikola Tesla discovered the principles of alternating electricity currents.
Before 1879, direct current (DC) electricity was used in arc lights for outdoor lighting. In the late 1800's, Nikola Tesla pioneered the generation, transmission, and use of alternating current (AC) electricity, which reduced the cost of transmitting electricity over long distances.
Tesla's inventions used electricity to bring indoor lighting to our homes and to power industrial machines.
In spite of the fact that electricity is important in the daily lives of people in industrialized nations, few probably stop to think what life would be like without electricity.
Regrettably, too many people in the world are still deprived of the pleasures and advantages of having access to electricity.
Like air and water, people who have normal use of electricity tend to take it for granted; even though they use electricity to do so many tasks every day; from lighting, heating, and cooling their homes to powering their televisions, kitchen equipment, computers, and other appliances run by electricity.
About the only time users of electricity really appreciate their electrical power and what it does is when it is cut off by storms or by some other abnormal situation.
2. The form of electricity in which the electron is the elementary unit.
2. In the larger sense, any energy source that can be ultimately traced to the action of the sun.
2. The separation of electrons by friction, which results in forces on charged bodies.
Combing the hair in dry weather causes it to separate because of this repelling force.
The flow of this energy is known as "electric current".
2. The general phenomenon of charges at rest and in motion.3. Energy resulting from the flow of charge particles; such as, electrons or ions.
The electric current is measured in electrons per second.
2. The ohm is a measure of resistance to current.The higher the resistance at a given voltage, the less current flows. Higher resistance can be obtained by using thinner wires or by using materials which are less efficient conductors.
3. The volt is a measure of the potential energy of the source or the "pressure" pushing electrons through the wire.4. A watt is a unit of electric power or the speed at which an electric current can function.
Electric energy is expressed in units called watt-hours, which is what is usually referred to in everyday speech when someone says "watts".
A 100-watt light bulb, that operates for one hour, uses one watt-hour and electricity which is used in a home is normally metered in kilowatt-hours, or thousands of watt-hours.