SUBJECT: ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE

(GRADE 9)

TOPIC 1: ELECTRICAL THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES

HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY
• According the Egyptian time from 2750 B.C. referred to this as the

“thunder of the Nile”

• Many think electricity was invented in the1700’s

• In 600 B.C., Thales, a Greek Philosopher accidentally discovered

“static electricity”, he saw a bits of straw and hair in his garment,

he used the “amber stone” to removed it, in his clothes.
• William Gilbert, an English Physician was able to put an electrical

charged on the objects by means of friction. He observed that the

two objects receives a opposite charges. His experiment was a
re-discovery of static electricity.
• The word electricity comes from the Greek word “Elektron”.

THE GREAT PERSONS WHO INVOVED IN THE DISCOVERY

ELECTRICITY
• 1760 – Benjamin Franklin – proved that atmospheric and static

electricity are the same.

• 1800 – Alessandro Volta – discovered the “voltaic file: by means of

stocking zinc plate (-) & silver plate (+).

• 1819 – Hans Christian Oestered – proved that current electricity can

produced a magnetic field.

• 1831 – Michael Faraday – discovered the first electric generator.

• 1831 – Samuel Morse - developed the telegraph.

• 1868 – George de Clanche – developed the practical dry cell.

• 1878 – Charles Brush – invented the arc lamp

• 1879 – Thomas Alba Edison – invented the electric bulb.

Nikola Tesla - pioneered the generation, transmission, and use of alternating

current (AC) electricity, which can be transmitted over much greater distances
than direct current. Tesla's inventions used electricity to bring indoor lighting
to our homes and to power industrial machines.
Luigi Galvani (1876) – have thought that the muscles of the frog must
contain electricity.
Joseph Wilson Swan (1860) – invented the incandescent filament.
George Westinghouse - was a famous American inventor and
industrialist who purchased and developed Nikola Tesla's patented motor for
generating alternating current. The work of Westinghouse, Tesla and others
gradually persuaded American society that the future lay with AC rather than
DC (Adoption of AC generation enabled the transmission of large blocks of
electrical, power using higher voltages via transformers, which would have
been impossible otherwise).
James Watt - the Scottish inventor of the steam condensing engine,
was born in 1736. His improvements to steam engines were patented over
a period of 15 years, starting in 1769 and his name was given to the electric
unit of power, the Watt. Watt's engines used the reciprocating piston,
however, today's thermal power stations use steam turbines, following the
Rankine cycle, worked out by another famous Scottish engineer, William J.M
Rankine, in 1859.
Andre Ampere - a French mathematician who devoted himself to the
study of electricity and magnetism, was the first to explain the electro-dynamic
theory. A permanent memorial to Ampere is the use of his name for the unit
of electric current.
George Ohm – a German mathematician and physicist, was a college
teacher in Cologne when in 1827 he published, "The galvanic Circuit
Investigated Mathematically". His theories were coldly received by German
scientists but his research was recognized in Britain and he was awarded the
Copley Medal in 1841. His name has been given to the unit of electrical
resistance.

THE ELECTRON THEORY:

1. All matter is made up of tiny, invisible particles called “atom”.
2. The atom is composed of negativity charged particles called
“electrons (-)”, positively charged particles called “protons (+),
and neutrally charged “neutrons (N)” which carry to charge.
3. Protons and neutrons have the same mass and are about 1, 830
times as heavy as electrons.
4. Every proton carries a unit charged of positive electricity; every
 electron carries a unit charge of negative electricity.
5. The atom of any element contains exactly the same number of
protons and electrons, thus the atom is said to be electrically
neutral.
6. The dense central position of the atom, the nucleus, is made up of
all the protons and the neutrons. Thus, the positive charge of the
atom is concentrated in the distances.
7. Electrons revolve around the nucleus in one or more shells or rings
at various distances.
8. The entire chemical characteristics of atom depend largely upon
the number of electrons that is has and how these electrons are
arrange.
TOPIC 2: Sources of Electricity:

• Hydroelectric Plant – the force of the continuous and steady flow of water from waterfalls or
dam turns a very big machine called turbine that connected to a generator.
• Turbine converts rotary motion to mechanical energy which operates and makes a big
generator.
• Cells & batteries – is made up of a liquid or paste electrolyte and 2 different electrodes. One
electrode produces electrons and the other one is the receiver.
• Solar cells – produces by the sun with a huge amount of energy and casts these on the
earth’s surface. The protons are also transmitted by the sun to the earth which reacts on
the earth’s surface.
• Geothermal – refers to power coming from the crust and upper mantle of the earth. This
energy is transferred to the earth’s surface through the continuous movement of molten
rocks and underground springs.
• Thermal Energy – produced by applying heat on two dissimilar materials and characteristics
are joined & one wire is kept at a very high temperature level, a voltage difference is
produced and electric current will flow between the cold and the hot point.
• Photoelectric devices – sometimes called “ photocells”. In the process, electrons are emitted
from the surface of a metal when it absorbs light from an external source, thus making the
current flow.
• Piezoelectric devices – when the crystal is subjected to mechanical pressure, when the
crystal is pressured, its ions are displaced, causing polarization on the unit cells.
• Nuclear Power - heat or radiation comes from emitted rays from radioactive elements. This
is stable and powerful that can operate ten turbines with just a handful of radioactive
element.
• Biomass - These sources replace fossil fuels in the boiler. The combustion of wood and waste
creates steam that is typically used in conventional steam-electric plants which includes
wood, municipal solid waste (garbage), and agricultural waste, such as corn cobs and
wheat straw.

Application of sources of energy in electricity:

• Friction – is a static electricity which is generated by two materials.

• Chemical action – produce by batteries.
• Heat action – two dissolution metals bonded together in a junction when heated, exhibits a
difference potential.
• Light action – due to the ability of lights energy to free electrons from the atoms of the semi-
conductor material.
• Pressure – is a difference of potential appears across the face of certain crystal.
• Mechanical action – produced by rotating machine working with the use of magnets.