The use of Greek fire, or rather variants thereof, spread to Muslim armies in the Near East, from where it reached China by the 10th century. SciFi short story subject: In the not too distant future our sciences find a way to peer back into time. Soon after we conquer time travel itself. The first traveler was accidentally transported into the ancient past, one Artie Mendez, a well known genius physicist working on the time travel project.
He accidentally transported himself into far past by walking into two convergent monopole beams which had been less than accurately aligned by the ultra high frequency radio energy that was supposed to hold them in place. Several days later he gets spotted by a passing caravan and kidnapped for ransom… His captors can not pronounce his name and simply call him Archemedes….
Skip to content. A replica and diagram of one of the ancient electric cells batteries found near Bagdad. Like this: Like Loading The Pearl Street Station was a direct current DC power system, unlike the power systems that we use today which use alternating current AC. The first hydroelectric station opened in Wisconsin. Edward Johnson first put electric lights on a Christmas tree. Until this time, electricity had been generated using direct current DC from batteries.
Sir Charles Algernon Parsons England invented a steam turbine generator, capable of generating huge amounts of electricity. His AC system included everything needed for electricity production and use: generator, transformers, transmission system, motor used in appliances and lights.
Charles Brush U. He used the windmill to charge batteries in the cellar of his home in Cleveland, Ohio. It originally provided electricity to the local area. One year later, when a new alternating current AC powerline was opened, electric power from Niagara Falls was sent to customers over 20 miles away in Buffalo, New York.
This lead to his invention of the world's first cardiac pacemaker. Check with a licensed electrician for more information. Most modern homes also have circuit breakers that immediately shut off power if they sense an overload, providing additional safeguards. Well into the 20 th century, most Americans continued to illuminate their homes using gas lamps. In , only half of American houses had electrical power.
Initially, electricity was used primarily for lighting. But as appliances like vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, and washing machines became more popular starting in the s, demand for electricity grew by leaps and bounds. As we settle into the 21 st century, electricity continues to evolve, yet innovations — at least when it comes to our sources of power — have come more slowly.
Coal, petroleum, and natural gas have been our primary sources of electrical production since the early 20 th century, and alternating current still reigns. According to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, renewable energy is the fastest-growing source of electricity in the United States, increasing 67 percent from to Eco-conscious entrepreneurs are committed to the transition from fossil fuels to renewable electricity — which includes not only wind and solar, but also a renewed focus on hydroelectric power.
As technology improves over the next few decades, a transition to renewable power sources as our primary producers of electricity is likely. In addition, direct current has been making a comeback: LEDs and computers use DC, and engineers have learned that DC may actually be more efficient than AC when transmitting millions of volts over large regions. New DC transformers are able to convert from low to very high voltages just like traditional transformers do with AC.
When lightning struck, the electricity traveled down the key and its charge was collected in a Leyden jar — an antique electrical component which stores a high-voltage electric charge and can release it at a later date. Franklin himself later wrote in the Pennsylvania Gazette on October 19, , detailing his findings and offering instructions on how to recreate the experiment:.
And when the Rain has wet the Kite and Twine, so that it can conduct the Electric Fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the Key on the Approach of your Knuckle. However, he is credited as the first scientist to draw up the hypothesis and the experimental conditions. In , an Italian doctor named Luigi Galvani found that when a frog touched two different kinds of metals, its leg twitched.
Volta used this insight to invent the first modern batteries. In his honor, we now name one of the properties of electricity, electrical potential or voltage , after him. Davy essentially invented the first light bulb. In , Hans Christian Oersted, A. Arago confirmed the relationship between electricity and magnetism.
The basic unit for resistance, the ohm, carries his name. In , Michael Faraday invented the electric dynamo — essentially a crude power generator — that used a magnet that moved inside a coil of copper wire, creating a tiny electric current. This set the stage for an electrical revolution across the world. In , American inventor Thomas Edison unveiled the first practical incandescent light bulb that could generate light for hours on end. Later, in the late s, Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla pioneered work with alternating current, the induction motor , and the polyphase distribution system.
Tesla also had competing patents with Marconi for the invention of the radio. The moment humankind harnessed electricity was a milestone in history. The world would have never been the same and most of the inventions we take for granted today would simply not have been possible without electricity. Today, electricity powers the world.
At the same time, all the amazing progress and prosperity that is enabled by electricity has had a hidden cost.
0コメント