Electrical energy

“ The rate at which electrical energy is developed, when this force is overcome by moving the conductor as a dynamo through the field, is EC = BgLVC × 10−8 watts, whence the equality of the mechanical power absorbed and the electrical power developed (as required by the law of the conservation of energy) is easily established. ”

“ The art herein described for transmitting and utilising electrical energy consisting in estabilishing stationary electrical waves in the earth, and operating thereby one or more receiving devices remote from the source of energy. ”

“ Another of these reasons was that I was led to recognize the transmission of electrical energy to any distance through the media as by far the best solution of the great problem of harnessing the sun's energy for the uses of man. For a long time I was convinced that such a transmission on an industrial scale, could never be realized, but a discovery which I made changed my view. I observed that under certain conditions the atmosphere, which is normally a high insulator, assumes conducting properties, and so becomes capable of conveying any amount of electrical energy. ”

“ The electrical transmission of power is exemplified in everything which is based on the generation of electricity. The ordinary electric light is power coming from a generator in the building or a public street-dynamo.
However, when we talk in general terms of electric transmission we mean the transmission of energy on a large scale by means of overhead or underground conductors to a considerable distance and the transformation of this energy into light and heat and chemical or mechanical power to carry on the processes of work and industry. ”

“ He calls particular attention to the important fact that the “resistance of one kind or another is always the agent that acts to alter energy from one form to another,” and suggests that electricity is simply a form or manifestation that energy may assume under given conditions, and generally is a mere transitory stage between the mechanical form and the heat form. ”

“ Had this expert made any calculations of the electrical energy expended in these trivial experiments he would have found that the whole electrical energy expended upon the living organism of any of his friends was below one-fifty thousandth of an electrical horse-power per second, and the difference of susceptibilities of any of his friends was infinitesimal, and the difference of the electrical energy between the minimum and maximum charges less than one-two hundred thousandths of an electrical horse-power. ”

“ It would thus appear that, when two bodies charged with opposite electricities are brought near each other, the two electricities rush together, forming a current, and the ultimate result is a spark. Now, this spark implies heat, and is, in truth, nothing else than small particles of intensely heated matter of some kind. We have here, therefore, first of all, the conversion of electrical separation into a current of electricity, and, secondly, the conversion of this current into heat. ”

“ After demonstrating the practicability of this method of transmission, the thought naturally occurred to me to use the earth as a conductor, thus dispensing with all wires. Whatever electricity may be, it is a fact that it behaves like an incompressible fluid, and the earth may be looked upon as an immense reservoir of electricity, which, I thought, could be disturbed effectively by a properly designed electrical machine. Accordingly, my next efforts were directed toward perfecting a special apparatus which would be highly effective in creating a disturbance of electricity in the earth. ”

“ Some authorities have estimated that electricity will pass through copper wire at the rate of two hundred and eighty-eight thousand miles in a second of time—a velocity greater than that of light.
What agents are undoubtedly the most active in producing and exciting electricity in the operations of nature?
The light and the sun’s rays.
Do some animals have the power of exciting electricity within themselves?
There are certain animals which are gifted with the extraordinary power of producing electrical phenomena by an effort of muscular or nervous energy. ”

“ The ultimate results of development in these three directions are: first, the burning of coal by a cold process in a battery; second, the efficient utilization of the energy of the ambient medium; and, third the transmission without wires of electrical energy to any distance. In whatever way these results may be arrived at, their practical application will necessarily involve an extensive use of iron, and this invaluable metal will undoubtedly be an essential element in the further development along these three lines. ”

“ In the first place, in moving a current of electricity to and from a coil of wire, or any other conductor, or (which is the same thing, since action and reaction are equal and opposite) in moving a coil of wire or any other conductor to and from a current of electricity, a sense of resistance will be experienced, and energy will have to be spent upon the process; in the second place, an electrical current will be generated in the conductor, and the conductor will be heated in consequence. ”

“ The quantity of electricity passed by a current of one ampere in one
hour. It is used by electric power and lighting companies as the unit of
energy supplied by them, because they maintain a constant potential
difference in their leads, so that only the amperes and hours need
measuring or recording to give the energy, viz. : volt-ampere-hours.
The same unit is applied to batteries to indicate their potential
energy, because they also are assumed to be of constant voltage or
electro-motive force. ”

“ Since electrical transmission of energy is a process much more economical than any other we know of, it necessarily must play an important part in the future, no matter how the primary energy is derived from the sun. ”

“ If the conductors are connected with batteries, so that their potentials are maintained constant, they tend to move so that the energy of the system is increased, and the work done by the electrical forces during the displacement is equal to the increment of the energy of the system. ”

“ It is probable that we shall soon have a self-acting heat-engine capable of deriving moderate amounts of energy from the ambient medium. There is also a possibility—though a small one—that we may obtain electrical energy direct from the sun. This might be the case if the Maxwellian theory is true, according to which electrical vibrations of all rates should emanate from the sun. I am still investigating this subject. Sir William Crookes has shown in his beautiful invention known as the "radiometer" ”

“ However extraordinary the results shown may appear, they are but trifling compared with those which are attainable by apparatus designed on these same principles. I have produced electrical discharges the actual path of which, from end to end, was probably more than one hundred feet long; but it would not be difficult to reach lengths one hundred times as great. I have produced electrical movements occurring at the rate of approximately one hundred thousand horse-power, but rates of one, five, or ten million horse-power are easily practicable. ”

“ While I have not, as yet, actually effected a transmission of a considerable amount of energy, such as would be of industrial importance, to a great distance by this new method, I have operated several model plants under exactly the same conditions which will exist in a large plant of this kind, and the practicability of the system is thoroughly demonstrated. The experiments have shown conclusively that, with two terminals maintained at an elevation of not more than thirty thousand to thirty-five thousand feet above sea-level, and with an electrical pressure of fifteen to twenty million volts, the energy of thousands of horse-power can be transmitted over distances which may be hundreds and, if necessary, thousands of miles. ”

“ The solar cell produces electricity when hole-electron pairs are formed. Any other phenomenon that creates such pairs will also generate electricity. The source of energy is irrelevant so long as the current carriers are formed near the junction. ”

“ Before entering into the description of the electrotype, we must say a few words on the subject of electricity to the less informed of our readers. The electric fluid, as it is called, may be produced in various ways: the most ordinary is by the friction of glass against silk, as exemplified in the electrical machine, which is familiar to almost every one. But galvanic and voltaic electricity is differently produced. ”

“ From the before mentioned law of electricity, that points, as they are more or less acute, draw on and throw off the electrical fluid with more or less power, and at greater or less distances, and in larger or smaller quantities in the same time, we may see how to account for the situation of the leaf of gold suspended between two plates, the upper one continually electrified, the under one in a person's hand standing on the floor. When the upper plate is electrified, the leaf is attracted and raised towards it, and would fly to that plate were it not for its own points. ”

“ When one stands on the bank of the river and sees the great waterfall as it plunges over the precipice, exerting a force of from five to ten million horse-power, one is overwhelmed in contemplation of its possibilities as a source of energy that may be converted into work, mechanical and chemical, through the medium of electricity.
The genius of man has devised a way by which some of this constantly wasting energy may be converted into electricity and distributed to different points to perform various kinds of work. ”

“ The largest and most extensive application of electric energy at the present time is to lighting, but, considering how much has of late been said and written for and against this new illuminant, I shall here confine myself to a few general remarks. Joule has shown that, if an electric current is passed through a conductor, the whole of the energy lost by the current is converted into heat; or, if the resistance be localized, into radiant energy comprising heat, light, and actinic rays. ”

“ All bodies conduct electricity in the same manner from metals to lac and gases, but in very different degrees.
445. Conducting power is in some bodies powerfully increased by heat, and in others diminished, yet without our perceiving any accompanying essential electrical difference, either in the bodies or in the changes occasioned by the electricity conducted.
446. A numerous class of bodies, insulating electricity of low intensity, when solid, conduct it very freely when fluid, and are then decomposed by it. ”

“ If the two wires attached to the plates are now connected with electric lamps, or a motor, or other device, the active material will develop energy in the effort to again change its nature. This energy takes the form of an electric current, which leaves the battery and passes through the conductors and operates the lamps, motors, or other devices in its passage. ”

“ Since 1799 there have been discovered additional sources, among which are voltaic electricity, or electricity produced by chemical action, such as is manifested when two dissimilar metals are brought near each other or together, and electrical manifestations produced by a decomposing action, one upon the other through a suitable medium; inductive electricity, or electricity developed or induced in one body by its proximity to another body through which a current is flowing ”

“ It will be found that a current of positive electricity circulates round the bar, in the direction of the arrow-head, going from the bismuth to the copper across the heated junction, the existence of which may be detected by means of a compass needle, as we see in the figure.
Here, then, we have a case in which heat energy goes out of existence, and is converted into that of an electric current, and we may even arrange matters so as to make, on this principle, an instrument which shall be an extremely delicate test of the existence of heat. ”

“ We may thus make use of a small nucleus of electricity, to assist us in procuring an unlimited supply, for in the above process the electricity of the prime conductor remains unaltered, and Ave may repeat the operation as often as we like, and gather together a very large quantity of electricity, without finally altering the electricity of the prime conductor, but not, however, without the expenditure of an equivalent amount of energy, in the shape of actual work. ”

“ In order to know immediately to which of the two classes of electrics belongs any body whatsoever, one need only render electric a silk thread, which is known to be of the resinuous electricity, and see whether that body, rendered electrical, attracts or repels it. If it attracts it, it is certainly of the kind of electricity which I call VITREOUS; if, on the contrary, it repels it, it is of the same kind of electricity with the silk—that is, of the RESINOUS. I have likewise observed that communicated electricity retains the same properties ”

“ There is, however, another reason which warrants us in asserting that electricity, as a physical quantity, synonymous with the total electrification of a body, is not, like heat, a form of energy. An electrified system has a certain amount or energy, and this energy can be calculated by multiplying the quantity of electricity in each of its parts by another physical quantity, called the Potential, of that part, and taking half the sum of the products. ”