Electricity is the potential energy between charged particles. 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. The movement of electric charge is known as an electric current, and intensity of which is usually measured in Amperes.
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. When electricity was first introduced into the domestic environment it was primarily for lighting.
600BC : The first windmills were developed in Persia in about 600 B.C.
1791 : Luigi Galvani published his discovery of bioelectricity, demonstrating that electricity was the medium by which nerve cells passed signals to the muscles.
1800 : Alessandro Volta discovered that when two strips of different metals were put in a sulphuric acid solution and connected with a wire, electricity began to flow. Voila! The first electric battery was developed!
1879 : In 1879, just over 100 years ago, Thomas Edison invented the first light bulb.
1887 : Nikola Tesla pioneered the generation, transmission, and use of alternating current (AC) electricity, which can be transmitted over much greater distances than direct current.The first windmill to produce electricity was in Denmark.
1890 : In the past, frightened sailors voyaging at night saw ghostly phantoms of bluish light dancing on the masts of ships. Called Saint Elmo’s fire, the light is actually a form of static electricity.
- 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 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 Paraná River near the Brazil/Paraguay border.
- In terms of nominal capacity, the largest solar electric power plant is the Harper Lake Site in the Mojave Desert, California. The site covers 1,280 acres, and has two solar electric generating stations which have a nominal capacity of 160 MW.