BASIC ELECTRICITY

Joseph F. Morco
https://www.electricityforum.com/types-electricity.html
https://www.electricityforum.com/electricity.html
Electricity
Define?
Electricity

• - most people don’t understand what it

is. They just turn on the light switch or
start the appliance or push the button
and something works.
• It is only when there is no electric power
available that we start to consider the
importance of it in our daily and
working lives.
 Electricity

• Electricity is a manufactured product.

• It is not something you pump out of the ground or mine
or collect from the sum or wind.
• Electric power is manufactured from a rotating machine
that we call an electrical generator.
• After it is generated, (manufactured) it is then delivered
through copper wires to where it is utilized
 Electricity

• Only since the invention of the ELECTRIC GENERATOR

have humans been able to advance in every aspect of
modern life. In face, modern living is defined by electric
power.
 One of the basic forms of energy.

Electricity
Electricity is associated with electric
charge, a property of certain elementary
particles such as electrons and protons,
two of the basic particles that make up
the atoms of all ordinary matter.
 Two Types of Electricity

• Static Electricity
• Current Electricity
 Static Electricity

• Electrons are at rest (Static)

• Static electricity is the build up of an electrical
charge on the surface of an object.
• It is considered “static” due to the fact that there
is no current flowing as in AC or DC electricity.
 • Benjamin Franklin; Static
electricity is usually caused when
there is a buildup of static charges
on non-conductive materials such
Static
as rubber soles, plastic or glass are
Electricity rubbed together, causing a transfer
of electrons, which results in an
imbalance of charges between the
two materials.
 Static Electricity

• Static electricity can be produced by rubbing together

two objects made of different materials. Electrons
move from the surface of one object to the surface of
the other if the second material holds onto its
electrons more strongly than the first does.
• The object that gains electrons becomes negatively
charged, since it now has more electrons than
protons.
• The object that gives up electrons become positively
charges.
 Electric Current
• An electric current is a
movement of charge. When two
objects with different charges
touch and redistribute their
charges, an electric current
flows from one object to the
other until the charge is
distributed according to the
capacitance of the objects.
 Electric Current
• If two objects are connected by a
material that lets charge flow easily,
such as a copper wire then an electric
current flows from one object to the
other through the wire.
• Electric current can be demonstrated
by connecting a small light bulb to an
electric battery by two copper wires.
• When connections are properly made,
current flows through the wires and
the bulb, causing the bulb to glow.
 • Alternating current or AC electricity is the type of
electricity commonly used in homes and business
throughout the world.
• While the flow of electron through a wire in direct
current (DC) electricity is continuously in one
Alternating direction, the current in AC electricity alternates in
Current direction.
 • The back-and-fort motion occurs between 50 and 60
times per second, depending on the electrical system
of the country.

Alternating • AC is created by an AC electric generator.

Current
 https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/DC-direct-current

• Direct current is the unidirectional flow or movement of

electric charge (which are usually electrons).
• The intensity of the current can vary with time, but
general direction of movement stays the same at all
Direct times.
Current • In DC circuit, electrons emerge from the negative pole
and moves towards the positive pole.
 Different Ways to Make
Electricity

• Electric power generation is typically

a two-step process in which heat boils
water; the energy from the steam
turns a turbine, which in turn spins a
generator, creating electricity.
• The motion of steam produces kinetic
energy, the energy of moving objects.
 You also get this energy from falling
water.
Different
Ways to It is directly proportional to the speed of
the moving body – the faster it moves,
Make the greater the energy.
Electricity
Electricity is produced when kinetic
energy turns copper coils (or wire)
within the turbine.
 Six Different Ways
Electricity is
Produced
Wisc-Online.com
• Chemical
• Friction
• Heat
• Light
• Magnetism
• Pressure
 Different Ways to Make Electricity

https://sciencing.com/different-ways-make-electricity-7228215.html

• Dynamos and Generators

• Electric from Steam
• Hydroelectric Power: Falling Water
• Windmills: Energy from Wind
• Solar Power: Energy from Sunshine
Dynamos and Generators

https://sciencing.com/different-ways-make-electricity-7228215.html

• A key part of most electric power plants is the generator,

a device that turns rotary motion into electricity.
• Inside the generator, coils of copper wire spin inside a
strong magnetic field.
• As the coils move, the magnetic field creates the flow of
alternating current (AC) electricity inside the wire.
 Dynamos and
Generators
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• The source of the rotary motion,

whether a windmill, a turbine, or a
diesel motor, doesn't matter; it just
has to be strong enough to turn the
generator.
• The dynamo, a "cousin" of the
generator, works in much the same
way; however, it produces direct
current (DC).
 Electricity for Steam
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• A steam power plant (or generator)

produces electricity by burning fuels,
including biomass, coal or petroleum.
• Steam generated from the process is
fed into a turbine. The copper
armature (wire) in the generator turns
with the rotation of the turbine,
producing an electric current.
• An example of a steam power plant is
the Big Bend Power Station located in
Tampa, Florida.
 Hydroelectric Power:
Falling
Water
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• Electricity that is generated from

water is called hydroelectricity.
• Falling water rotate the blades of a
hydroelectric turbine, which in turn
moves the copper armature inside the
electric generator to produce
electricity.
 Hydroelectric Power: Falling
Water
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• An example of a hydroelectric power plant is the

Great Hoover Dam (located near Las Vegas,
U.S.). It has a total of 19 turbines that produce
enough electricity to serve more than 1.3 million
people annually.
 Windmills: Energy from
Wind
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• A wind power plant rotates the blades

of a turbine, which move the copper
armature (that lies within the
generator) to generate electricity.
• Windmills have been utilized in the
past to rotate the wheels of attached
mills.
 Windmills: Energy from Wind

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• Modern windmills turn mechanical energy (generated

from movement) into electrical energy.
• An example of a wind-powered electricity plant is the 107
Mega Watt (MW) wind farm located near Lake Benton,
Minnesota.
Solar Power: Energy from
Sunshine
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• Photovoltaic cells utilize the energy of

the sunlight to produce electricity.
• Direct current (DC) is generated from
stationary solar panels (which are
made up of photovoltaic cells) and is
commonly used for local applications,
including running small-scale
irrigation pumps or to charge battery-
powered devices.
 Solar Power: Energy from
Sunshine
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• Commercial scale solar power plants are steadily gaining

popularity with the increase in the price of fossil fuels.
• They function by trapping solar energy through large
reflectors.
• The trapped energy is then directed onto receivers that
use various technologies to generate electricity by
powering gas or steam turbines.
 Solar Power: Energy from
Sunshine
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• The Nellis Power Plant is the largest

solar power plant in North America.
• It is located in the Nellis Air Force Base in Clark County,
Nevada, near Las Vegas.
• The plant is made up of more than 70,000 photovoltaic
solar panels and its maximum electrical capacity is
estimated at 13 megawatts of alternating current (13 MW
AC).