√ The History of Electrical Energy Explained with Clear Examples

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Electricity is so common today that we tend to take it for granted. Electricity can be used to heat our houses, our water and our food. It can turn darkness into light, entertain us, and allow us to communicate with one another from anywhere in the world. But it was not always this way. Electricity did not come to Australian cities until around 1900, and it took another 30 to 50 years to reach many country towns.

Prior to the discovery by humans of how to make fire some 1.5 million years ago, their only source of energy was sunlight and their own muscles. (They had not yet domesticated animals to work for them.) Although the ancient Egyptians harnessed the energy of the wind to propel their boats about years ago, and ancient water wheels used the energy of running water, nevertheless wood remained the major source of domestic energy until the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century.

The industrial revolution that swept the world in the 18th and 19th centuries was created not by electricity, but by the invention of the steam engine. This device enabled the vast (but finite) reserves of chemical energy stored in coal and oil to be transformed into useful mechanical energy. But the mechanical energy produced by steam engines had to be used near the engine. There was no way that the energy could be transported for use elsewhere. This meant that large, noisy, dirty engines powered factories, and the energy could not be provided to individual households. Steam engines greatly increased industrial output, but in the process transformed cities into dirty, noisy, polluted environments.

Before electricity, domestic power sources were limited to fossil fuels such as wood, coal, gas and oil, and most domestic works were performed using human labour. Clothes, dishes and floors were washed by hand, and burning fossil fuels in homes provided heat and light.
In the 1790s the Italian scientist, Count Alessandro Volta invented the battery, a device that changes chemical energy into electrical energy. Volta then showed that the current of electricity produced by this battery could carry energy from one place to another. But there was no way to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy at that time. This breakthrough came in 1831 when Michael Faraday discovered how to produce electricity from mechanical energy. The principle of ‘electromagnetic induction that Faraday discovered led to the creation of efficient electric generators, which were to change the world.

Electricity could be efficiently transmitted over large distances and proved to be an extremely convenient form of energy for both industrial and domestic use. By 1900 electrical power was being generated centrally in many Western cities. Electric lights for the first time began to illuminate city streets, shops, factories and homes. Coal-fired electricity generators could be located away from city centres so cities became cleaner, quieter places. More than any other form of technology, it is electricity that makes our urban way of life possible. Domestic labour-saving devices, such as electric washing machines, vacuum cleaners and refrigerators, began to be developed and used in ever-increasing numbers of homes. In time, electronics was to revolutionise our way of life and usher in today’s ‘communication-information age’.

Today most of this electrical energy is produced in ‘power stations’ that burn fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas – with their associated environmental costs of global warming and acid rain. Other energy sources used to produce electricity include running water (hydro-electricity) and nuclear reactions, as well as small amounts generated from wind (kinetic energy) and the Sun (solar energy).

Part 2: Additional history of electricity
Starting with Ben Franklin

Many people think Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity with his famous kite-flying experiments in 1752, but electricity was not discovered all at once. At first, electricity was associated with light. People wanted a cheap and safe way to light their homes, and scientists thought electricity might be away.

Learning how to produce and use electricity was not easy. For a long time, there was no dependable source of electricity for experiments. Finally, in 1800, Alessandro Volta, an Italian scientist, made a great discovery. He soaked paper in saltwater, placed zinc and copper on opposite sides of the paper, and watched the chemical reaction produce an electric current. Volta had created the first electric cell. By connecting many of these cells, Volta could “string a current” and create a battery. It is in honour of Volta that we measure battery power in volts. Finally, a safe and dependable source of electricity was available, making it easy for scientists to study electricity.

[daisyarciga]

Well explained facts and information...thanks for sharing ☺️🥰💖🍀

[chandrasekarnarayan]

Learning from Periodic Table: History of Electrical Energy tells of Scientist like Alessandro Volta on whose name term "Voltage" of battery is named.

[chandrasekarnarayan]

Trying to invent better Batteries many elements of Periodic Table were explored.

[chandrasekarnarayan]

Law of conservation of energy says energy cannot be created or destroyed but only transformed. Does that mean Mass cannot be created from Energy? If E=Mc^2 & KE= 1/2mv^2, Can entire mass of universe be measured as entire energy of universe?

[mikepeine]

compressed air 1775 . ocean wave action generators 1799 .

[lazyboyresearcher]

poor, not a single mention of Nikola Tesla. Inventor Nikola Tesla contributed to the development of the alternating-current electrical system that's widely used today and discovered the rotating magnetic field (the basis of most AC machinery).