1.
Battery (electricity)
–
An electric battery is a device consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections provided to power electrical devices such as flashlights, smartphones, and electric cars. When a battery is supplying power, its positive terminal is the cathode. The terminal marked negative is the source of electrons that when connected to a circuit will flow. It is the movement of ions within the battery which allows current to flow out of the battery to perform work. Historically the term specifically referred to a device composed of multiple cells. Primary batteries are used once and discarded, the materials are irreversibly changed during discharge. Common examples are the battery used for flashlights and a multitude of portable electronic devices. Secondary batteries can be discharged and recharged multiple times using mains power from a wall socket, examples include the lead-acid batteries used in vehicles and lithium-ion batteries used for portable electronics such as laptops and smartphones. According to a 2005 estimate, the battery industry generates US$48 billion in sales each year. Batteries have much lower energy than common fuels such as gasoline. This is somewhat offset by the efficiency of electric motors in producing mechanical work. The usage of battery to describe a group of electrical devices dates to Benjamin Franklin, alessandro Volta built and described the first electrochemical battery, the voltaic pile, in 1800. This was a stack of copper and zinc plates, separated by brine-soaked paper disks, Volta did not understand that the voltage was due to chemical reactions. Although early batteries were of value for experimental purposes, in practice their voltages fluctuated. It consisted of a pot filled with a copper sulfate solution, in which was immersed an unglazed earthenware container filled with sulfuric acid. These wet cells used liquid electrolytes, which were prone to leakage and spillage if not handled correctly, many used glass jars to hold their components, which made them fragile and potentially dangerous. These characteristics made wet cells unsuitable for portable appliances, near the end of the nineteenth century, the invention of dry cell batteries, which replaced the liquid electrolyte with a paste, made portable electrical devices practical. Batteries convert chemical energy directly to electrical energy, a battery consists of some number of voltaic cells
2.
Insulator (electricity)
–
An electrical insulator is a material whose internal electric charges do not flow freely, very little electric current will flow through it under the influence of an electric field. This contrasts with other materials, semiconductors and conductors, which conduct electric current more easily, the property that distinguishes an insulator is its resistivity, insulators have higher resistivity than semiconductors or conductors. A perfect insulator does not exist, because even insulators contain small numbers of mobile charges which can carry current, in addition, all insulators become electrically conductive when a sufficiently large voltage is applied that the electric field tears electrons away from the atoms. This is known as the voltage of an insulator. Some materials such as glass, paper and Teflon, which have high resistivity, are good electrical insulators. Examples include rubber-like polymers and most plastics which can be thermoset or thermoplastic in nature, insulators are used in electrical equipment to support and separate electrical conductors without allowing current through themselves. An insulating material used in bulk to wrap electrical cables or other equipment is called insulation, the term insulator is also used more specifically to refer to insulating supports used to attach electric power distribution or transmission lines to utility poles and transmission towers. They support the weight of the suspended wires without allowing the current to flow through the tower to ground, electrical insulation is the absence of electrical conduction. Electronic band theory says that a charge flows if states are available into which electrons can be excited and this allows electrons to gain energy and thereby move through a conductor such as a metal. If no such states are available, the material is an insulator, most insulators have a large band gap. This occurs because the valence band containing the highest energy electrons is full, there is always some voltage that gives electrons enough energy to be excited into this band. Once this voltage is exceeded the material ceases being an insulator, however, it is usually accompanied by physical or chemical changes that permanently degrade the materials insulating properties. Materials that lack electron conduction are insulators if they lack other mobile charges as well, for example, if a liquid or gas contains ions, then the ions can be made to flow as an electric current, and the material is a conductor. Electrolytes and plasmas contain ions and act as conductors whether or not electron flow is involved, when subjected to a high enough voltage, insulators suffer from the phenomenon of electrical breakdown. These freed electrons and ions are in turn accelerated and strike other atoms, creating more charge carriers, rapidly the insulator becomes filled with mobile charge carriers, and its resistance drops to a low level. In a solid, the voltage is proportional to the band gap energy. The air in a region around a conductor can break down and ionise without a catastrophic increase in current. Even a vacuum can suffer a sort of breakdown, but in case the breakdown or vacuum arc involves charges ejected from the surface of metal electrodes rather than produced by the vacuum itself
3.
Vacuum
–
Vacuum is space void of matter. The word stems from the Latin adjective vacuus for vacant or void, an approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. In engineering and applied physics on the hand, vacuum refers to any space in which the pressure is lower than atmospheric pressure. The Latin term in vacuo is used to describe an object that is surrounded by a vacuum, the quality of a partial vacuum refers to how closely it approaches a perfect vacuum. Other things equal, lower gas pressure means higher-quality vacuum, for example, a typical vacuum cleaner produces enough suction to reduce air pressure by around 20%. Ultra-high vacuum chambers, common in chemistry, physics, and engineering, operate below one trillionth of atmospheric pressure, outer space is an even higher-quality vacuum, with the equivalent of just a few hydrogen atoms per cubic meter on average. In the electromagnetism in the 19th century, vacuum was thought to be filled with a medium called aether, in modern particle physics, the vacuum state is considered the ground state of matter. Vacuum has been a frequent topic of debate since ancient Greek times. Evangelista Torricelli produced the first laboratory vacuum in 1643, and other techniques were developed as a result of his theories of atmospheric pressure. A torricellian vacuum is created by filling a glass container closed at one end with mercury. Vacuum became an industrial tool in the 20th century with the introduction of incandescent light bulbs and vacuum tubes. The recent development of human spaceflight has raised interest in the impact of vacuum on human health, the word vacuum comes from Latin an empty space, void, noun use of neuter of vacuus, meaning empty, related to vacare, meaning be empty. Vacuum is one of the few words in the English language that contains two consecutive letters u. Historically, there has been dispute over whether such a thing as a vacuum can exist. Ancient Greek philosophers debated the existence of a vacuum, or void, in the context of atomism, Aristotle believed that no void could occur naturally, because the denser surrounding material continuum would immediately fill any incipient rarity that might give rise to a void. Almost two thousand years after Plato, René Descartes also proposed a geometrically based alternative theory of atomism, without the problematic nothing–everything dichotomy of void, by the ancient definition however, directional information and magnitude were conceptually distinct. The explanation of a clepsydra or water clock was a topic in the Middle Ages. Although a simple wine skin sufficed to demonstrate a partial vacuum, in principle and he concluded that airs volume can expand to fill available space, and he suggested that the concept of perfect vacuum was incoherent. However, according to Nader El-Bizri, the physicist Ibn al-Haytham and the Mutazili theologians disagreed with Aristotle and Al-Farabi, using geometry, Ibn al-Haytham mathematically demonstrated that place is the imagined three-dimensional void between the inner surfaces of a containing body
4.
Rectifier
–
A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current, which periodically reverses direction, to direct current, which flows in only one direction. The process is known as rectification, historically, even synchronous electromechanical switches and motors have been used. Early radio receivers, called crystal radios, used a cats whisker of fine wire pressing on a crystal of galena to serve as a rectifier or crystal detector. Rectifiers have many uses, but are found serving as components of DC power supplies. Rectification may serve in other than to generate direct current for use as a source of power. As noted, detectors of radio signals serve as rectifiers, in gas heating systems flame rectification is used to detect presence of a flame. Because of the nature of the input AC sine wave. Many applications of rectifiers, such as supplies for radio, television and computer equipment. In these applications the output of the rectifier is smoothed by a filter to produce a steady current. More complex circuitry that performs the function, converting DC to AC, is called an inverter. Before the development of semiconductor rectifiers, vacuum tube thermionic diodes. With the introduction of electronics, vacuum tube rectifiers became obsolete. For power rectification from very low to high current, semiconductor diodes of various types are widely used. Other devices that have control electrodes as well as acting as unidirectional current valves are used more than simple rectification is required—e. g. Where variable output voltage is needed, high-power rectifiers, such as those used in high-voltage direct current power transmission, employ silicon semiconductor devices of various types. These are thyristors or other controlled switching solid-state switches, which function as diodes to pass current in only one direction. Rectifier circuits may be single-phase or multi-phase, most low power rectifiers for domestic equipment are single-phase, but three-phase rectification is very important for industrial applications and for the transmission of energy as DC. Because only one half of the input waveform reaches the output, half-wave rectification requires a single diode in a single-phase supply, or three in a three-phase supply
5.
Power inverter
–
A power inverter, or inverter, is an electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current to alternating current. The input voltage, output voltage and frequency, and overall power handling depend on the design of the device or circuitry. The inverter does not produce any power, the power is provided by the DC source, a power inverter can be entirely electronic or may be a combination of mechanical effects and electronic circuitry. Static inverters do not use moving parts in the conversion process, a typical power inverter device or circuit requires a relatively stable DC power source capable of supplying enough current for the intended power demands of the system. The input voltage depends on the design and purpose of the inverter, examples include,12 VDC, for smaller consumer and commercial inverters that typically run from a rechargeable 12 V lead acid battery or automotive electrical outlet. 24,36 and 48 VDC, which are standards for home energy systems. 200 to 400 VDC, when power is from solar panels. 300 to 450 VDC, when power is from electric vehicle battery packs in vehicle-to-grid systems, hundreds of thousands of volts, where the inverter is part of a high-voltage direct current power transmission system. An inverter can produce a wave, modified sine wave, pulsed sine wave. The two dominant commercialized waveform types of inverters as of 2007 are modified sine wave and sine wave, the second method converts DC to AC at battery level and uses a line-frequency transformer to create the output voltage. This is one of the simplest waveforms an inverter design can produce and is best suited to low-sensitivity applications such as lighting and heating, square wave output can produce humming when connected to audio equipment and is generally unsuitable for sensitive electronics. A power inverter device which produces a multiple step sinusoidal AC waveform is referred to as a sine wave inverter, to more clearly distinguish the inverters with outputs of much less distortion than the modified sine wave inverter designs, the manufacturers often use the phrase pure sine wave inverter. However, this is not critical for most electronics as they deal with the quite well. Where power inverter devices substitute for standard power, a sine wave output is desirable because many electrical products are engineered to work best with a sine wave AC power source. The standard electric utility provides a sine wave, typically with minor imperfections, switch-mode power supply devices, such as personal computers or DVD players, function on quality modified sine wave power. AC motors directly operated on non-sinusoidal power may produce extra heat, may have different speed-torque characteristics, the modified sine wave output of such an inverter is the sum of two square waves one of which is phase shifted 90 degrees relative to the other. The result is three level waveform with equal intervals of zero volts, peak positive volts, zero volts, peak negative volts, the resultant wave very roughly resembles the shape of a sine wave. Most inexpensive consumer power inverters produce a sine wave rather than a pure sine wave
6.
Aluminium
–
Aluminium or aluminum is a chemical element in the boron group with symbol Al and atomic number 13. It is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic, ductile metal, Aluminium metal is so chemically reactive that native specimens are rare and limited to extreme reducing environments. Instead, it is combined in over 270 different minerals. The chief ore of aluminium is bauxite, Aluminium is remarkable for the metals low density and its ability to resist corrosion through the phenomenon of passivation. Aluminium and its alloys are vital to the industry and important in transportation and structures, such as building facades. The oxides and sulfates are the most useful compounds of aluminium, despite its prevalence in the environment, no known form of life uses aluminium salts metabolically, but aluminium is well tolerated by plants and animals. Because of these salts abundance, the potential for a role for them is of continuing interest. Aluminium is a soft, durable, lightweight, ductile. It is nonmagnetic and does not easily ignite, a fresh film of aluminium serves as a good reflector of visible light and an excellent reflector of medium and far infrared radiation. The yield strength of aluminium is 7–11 MPa, while aluminium alloys have yield strengths ranging from 200 MPa to 600 MPa. Aluminium has about one-third the density and stiffness of steel and it is easily machined, cast, drawn and extruded. Aluminium atoms are arranged in a cubic structure. Aluminium has an energy of approximately 200 mJ/m2. Aluminium is a thermal and electrical conductor, having 59% the conductivity of copper. Aluminium is capable of superconductivity, with a critical temperature of 1.2 kelvin. Aluminium is the most common material for the fabrication of superconducting qubits, the strongest aluminium alloys are less corrosion resistant due to galvanic reactions with alloyed copper. This corrosion resistance is reduced by aqueous salts, particularly in the presence of dissimilar metals. In highly acidic solutions, aluminium reacts with water to form hydrogen, primarily because it is corroded by dissolved chlorides, such as common sodium chloride, household plumbing is never made from aluminium
7.
Railway electrification system
–
A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electrification has many advantages but requires significant capital expenditure, selection of an electrification system is based on economics of energy supply, maintenance, and capital cost compared to the revenue obtained for freight and passenger traffic. Different systems are used for urban and intercity areas, some electric locomotives can switch to different supply voltages to allow flexibility in operation, Electric railways use electric locomotives to haul passengers or freight in separate cars or electric multiple units, passenger cars with their own motors. Electricity is typically generated in large and relatively efficient generating stations, transmitted to the railway network, some electric railways have their own dedicated generating stations and transmission lines but most purchase power from an electric utility. The railway usually provides its own lines, switches and transformers. Power is supplied to moving trains with a continuous conductor running along the track usually takes one of two forms. The first is a line or catenary wire suspended from poles or towers along the track or from structure or tunnel ceilings. Locomotives or multiple units pick up power from the wire with pantographs on their roofs that press a conductive strip against it with a spring or air pressure. Examples are described later in this article, the second is a third rail mounted at track level and contacted by a sliding pickup shoe. Both overhead wire and third-rail systems usually use the rails as the return conductor. In comparison to the alternative, the diesel engine, electric railways offer substantially better energy efficiency, lower emissions. Electric locomotives are usually quieter, more powerful, and more responsive and they have no local emissions, an important advantage in tunnels and urban areas. Different regions may use different supply voltages and frequencies, complicating through service, the limited clearances available under catenaries may preclude efficient double-stack container service. Possible lethal electric current due to risk of contact with high-voltage contact wires, overhead wires are safer than third rails, but they are often considered unsightly. These are independent of the system used, so that. The permissible range of voltages allowed for the voltages is as stated in standards BS EN50163. These take into account the number of trains drawing current and their distance from the substation, railways must operate at variable speeds. Until the mid 1980s this was only practical with the brush-type DC motor, since such conversion was not well developed in the late 19th century and early 20th century, most early electrified railways used DC and many still do, particularly rapid transit and trams
8.
High-voltage direct current
–
A high-voltage, direct current electric power transmission system uses direct current for the bulk transmission of electrical power, in contrast with the more common alternating current systems. For long-distance transmission, HVDC systems may be expensive and suffer lower electrical losses. For underwater power cables, HVDC avoids the heavy currents required to charge and discharge the cable capacitance each cycle, for shorter distances, the higher cost of DC conversion equipment compared to an AC system may still be justified, due to other benefits of direct current links. HVDC allows power transmission between unsynchronized AC transmission systems, since the power flow through an HVDC link can be controlled independently of the phase angle between source and load, it can stabilize a network against disturbances due to rapid changes in power. HVDC also allows transfer of power grid systems running at different frequencies, such as 50 Hz and 60 Hz. This improves the stability and economy of each grid, by allowing exchange of power between incompatible networks, the modern form of HVDC transmission uses technology developed extensively in the 1930s in Sweden and in Germany. Early commercial installations included one in the Soviet Union in 1951 between Moscow and Kashira, and a 100 kV,20 MW system between Gotland and mainland Sweden in 1954. The longest HVDC link in the world is the Rio Madeira link in Brazil, the length of the DC line is 2,375 km. High voltage is used for power transmission to reduce the energy lost in the resistance of the wires. For a given quantity of power transmitted, doubling the voltage will deliver the power at only half the current. While power lost in transmission can also be reduced by increasing the size, larger conductors are heavier. High voltage cannot readily be used for lighting or motors, so transmission-level voltages must be reduced for end-use equipment, transformers are used to change the voltage levels in alternating current transmission circuits. The first long-distance transmission of power was demonstrated using direct current in 1882 at Miesbach-Munich Power Transmission. An early method of high-voltage DC transmission was developed by the Swiss engineer René Thury and this system used series-connected motor-generator sets to increase the voltage. Each set was insulated from ground and driven by insulated shafts from a prime mover. The transmission line was operated in a constant current mode, with up to 5,000 volts across each machine and this system transmitted 630 kW at 14 kV DC over a distance of 120 km. The Moutiers–Lyon system transmitted 8,600 kW of hydroelectric power a distance of 200 km and this system used eight series-connected generators with dual commutators for a total voltage of 150,000 volts between the positive and negative poles, and operated from c.1906 until 1936. Fifteen Thury systems were in operation by 1913, other Thury systems operating at up to 100 kV DC worked into the 1930s, but the rotating machinery required high maintenance and had high energy loss
9.
Electromagnetism
–
Electromagnetism is a branch of physics involving the study of the electromagnetic force, a type of physical interaction that occurs between electrically charged particles. The electromagnetic force usually exhibits electromagnetic fields such as fields, magnetic fields. The other three fundamental interactions are the interaction, the weak interaction, and gravitation. The word electromagnetism is a form of two Greek terms, ἤλεκτρον, ēlektron, amber, and μαγνῆτις λίθος magnētis lithos, which means magnesian stone. The electromagnetic force plays a role in determining the internal properties of most objects encountered in daily life. Ordinary matter takes its form as a result of forces between individual atoms and molecules in matter, and is a manifestation of the electromagnetic force. Electrons are bound by the force to atomic nuclei, and their orbital shapes. The electromagnetic force governs the processes involved in chemistry, which arise from interactions between the electrons of neighboring atoms, there are numerous mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic field. In classical electrodynamics, electric fields are described as electric potential, although electromagnetism is considered one of the four fundamental forces, at high energy the weak force and electromagnetic force are unified as a single electroweak force. In the history of the universe, during the epoch the unified force broke into the two separate forces as the universe cooled. Originally, electricity and magnetism were considered to be two separate forces, Magnetic poles attract or repel one another in a manner similar to positive and negative charges and always exist as pairs, every north pole is yoked to a south pole. An electric current inside a wire creates a corresponding magnetic field outside the wire. Its direction depends on the direction of the current in the wire. A current is induced in a loop of wire when it is moved toward or away from a field, or a magnet is moved towards or away from it. While preparing for a lecture on 21 April 1820, Hans Christian Ørsted made a surprising observation. As he was setting up his materials, he noticed a compass needle deflected away from north when the electric current from the battery he was using was switched on. At the time of discovery, Ørsted did not suggest any explanation of the phenomenon. However, three later he began more intensive investigations
10.
Electricity
–
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence of electric charge. Although initially considered a separate to magnetism, since the development of Maxwells Equations both are recognized as part of a single phenomenon, electromagnetism. Various common phenomena are related to electricity, including lightning, static electricity, electric heating, electric discharges, in addition, electricity is at the heart of many modern technologies. The presence of a charge, which can be either positive or negative. On the other hand, the movement of charges, which is known as electric current. When a charge is placed in a location with non-zero electric field, the magnitude of this force is given by Coulombs Law. Thus, if that charge were to move, the field would be doing work on the electric charge. Electrical phenomena have been studied since antiquity, though progress in theoretical understanding remained slow until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Even then, practical applications for electricity were few, and it would not be until the nineteenth century that engineers were able to put it to industrial and residential use. The rapid expansion in electrical technology at this time transformed industry, electricitys extraordinary versatility means it can be put to an almost limitless set of applications which include transport, heating, lighting, communications, and computation. Electrical power is now the backbone of modern industrial society, long before any knowledge of electricity existed, people were aware of shocks from electric fish. Ancient Egyptian texts dating from 2750 BCE referred to these fish as the Thunderer of the Nile, Electric fish were again reported millennia later by ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic naturalists and physicians. Patients suffering from such as gout or headache were directed to touch electric fish in the hope that the powerful jolt might cure them. Ancient cultures around the Mediterranean knew that certain objects, such as rods of amber, Thales was incorrect in believing the attraction was due to a magnetic effect, but later science would prove a link between magnetism and electricity. He coined the New Latin word electricus to refer to the property of attracting small objects after being rubbed and this association gave rise to the English words electric and electricity, which made their first appearance in print in Thomas Brownes Pseudodoxia Epidemica of 1646. Further work was conducted by Otto von Guericke, Robert Boyle, Stephen Gray, in the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research in electricity, selling his possessions to fund his work. In June 1752 he is reputed to have attached a key to the bottom of a dampened kite string. A succession of jumping from the key to the back of his hand showed that lightning was indeed electrical in nature
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
