Electricity, where does it come from and how does it get to our homes? What do beginners need to know about electricity? Video: where does electricity come from.

This is the ordered movement of certain charged particles. In order to competently use the full potential of electricity, it is necessary to clearly understand all the principles of the device and the operation of electric current. So, let's figure out what work and current power are.

Where does electricity come from?

Despite the apparent simplicity of the question, few are able to give an intelligible answer to it. Of course, nowadays, when technology is developing at an incredible speed, a person does not particularly think about such elementary things as the principle of operation of an electric current. Where does electricity come from? Surely many will answer "Well, from the socket, of course" or simply shrug their shoulders. Meanwhile, it is very important to understand how the current works. This should be known not only to scientists, but also to people who are in no way connected with the world of sciences, for their general versatile development. But to be able to correctly use the principle of current operation is not for everyone.

So, for starters, you should understand that electricity does not arise from nowhere: it is produced by special generators that are located at various power plants. Thanks to the work of rotating the blades of turbines, steam obtained as a result of heating water with coals or oil generates energy, which is subsequently converted into electricity with the help of a generator. The generator is very simple: in the center of the device is a huge and very strong magnet, which causes electric charges to move along copper wires.

How does electricity reach our homes?

After a certain amount of electric current has been obtained with the help of energy (thermal or nuclear), it can be supplied to people. Such a supply of electricity works as follows: in order for electricity to successfully reach all apartments and enterprises, it needs to be “pushed”. And for this you need to increase the force that will do it. It is called the voltage of the electric current. The principle of operation is as follows: the current passes through the transformer, which increases its voltage. Further, the electric current flows through cables installed deep underground or at a height (because the voltage sometimes reaches 10,000 volts, which is deadly for humans). When the current reaches its destination, it must again pass through the transformer, which will now reduce its voltage. It then passes through wires to installed shields in apartment buildings or other buildings.

The electricity carried through the wires can be used thanks to the system of sockets, connecting household appliances to them. Additional wires are carried in the walls, through which electric current flows, and thanks to it, the lighting and all the appliances in the house work.

What is current work?

The energy that an electric current carries in itself is converted over time into light or heat. For example, when we turn on a lamp, the electrical form of energy is converted into light.

Speaking in an accessible language, the work of the current is the action that electricity itself produced. Moreover, it can be very easily calculated by the formula. Based on the law of conservation of energy, we can conclude that electrical energy has not disappeared, it has completely or partially changed into another form, while giving off a certain amount of heat. This heat is the work of the current when it passes through the conductor and heats it (heat exchange occurs). This is how the Joule-Lenz formula looks like: A \u003d Q \u003d U * I * t (work is equal to the amount of heat or the product of the current power and the time during which it flowed through the conductor).

What does direct current mean?

Electric current is of two types: alternating and direct. They differ in that the latter does not change its direction, it has two clamps (positive "+" and negative "-") and always starts its movement from "+". And alternating current has two terminals - phase and zero. It is because of the presence of one phase at the end of the conductor that it is also called single-phase.

The principles of the device of single-phase alternating and direct electric current are completely different: unlike direct, the alternating current changes both its direction (forming a flow both from the phase towards zero, and from zero towards the phase), and its magnitude. So, for example, alternating current periodically changes the value of its charge. It turns out that at a frequency of 50 Hz (50 oscillations per second), the electrons change the direction of their movement exactly 100 times.

Where is direct current used?

Direct electric current has some features. Due to the fact that it flows strictly in one direction, it is more difficult to transform it. The following elements can be considered as sources of direct current:

batteries (both alkaline and acid);
conventional batteries used in small appliances;
as well as various devices such as converters.

DC operation

What are its main characteristics? These are work and current power, and both of these concepts are very closely related to each other. Power means the speed of work per unit time (per 1 s). According to the Joule-Lenz law, we find that the work of a direct electric current is equal to the product of the strength of the current itself, the voltage and the time during which the work of the electric field was completed to transfer charges along the conductor.

This is how the formula for finding the work of the current, taking into account Ohm's law of resistance in conductors, looks like: A \u003d I 2 * R * t (work is equal to the square of the current strength multiplied by the value of the resistance of the conductor and once again multiplied by the value of the time for which the work was done).

For the stable life of our metropolis, energy is needed equal to 100 million kWh per day, and this is about 38 billion kWh per year. Who and what provides Moscow with electricity? On Raushskaya embankment there is hydroelectric power station No. 1 (the oldest power plant in the capital), which is not only a UNESCO monument, but also generates electricity to supply the State Duma, the Kremlin, Lubyanka Square and the metro. The rated power of the station is 86 MW. The station was built by order of Emperor Alexander III to connect electricity to the first trams. Over the 114 years of HPP-1's existence, its capacity has increased 10 times.
The main source of electricity supply in Moscow are thermal power plants, in the amount of 15 units.

Another feature of Moscow's power supply is the Moscow Energy Ring, which is formed by high-voltage power lines (voltage 500 kV) and a group of powerful substations (SS) located both within the city and in the Moscow region. The main task of these nodal substations is to lower the voltage from 500 to 220 and 110 kV and transfer it to nodal distribution substations.

This question is like cabbage, you open it, you open it, but it is still far from the "fundamental" stump. Although the question, apparently, concerns this very stalk, you still have to try to overcome all the cabbage.

At the most superficial glance, the nature of current seems simple: current is when charged particles move. (If the particle does not move, then there is no current, there is only an electric field.) Trying to comprehend the nature of the current, and not knowing what the current consists of, we chose the direction for the current corresponding to the direction of movement of positive particles. Later it turned out that an indistinguishable current, exactly the same in effect, is obtained when negative particles move in the opposite direction. This symmetry is a remarkable detail of the nature of the current.

Depending on where the particles are moving, the nature of the current is also different. The current material itself is different:

Metals have free electrons;
In metal and ceramic superconductors - also electrons;
In liquids, ions that are formed during chemical reactions or when exposed to an applied electric field;
In gases - again ions, as well as electrons;
But in semiconductors, electrons are not free and can move "relay". Those. It is not an electron that can move, but, as it were, a place where it does not exist - a "hole". Such conduction is called hole conduction. On the spikes of different semiconductors, the nature of such a current gives rise to effects that make all of our radio electronics possible.
Current has two measures: current strength and current density. Between the current of charges and the current, for example, of water in a hose, there are more differences than similarities. But such a view of the current is quite productive for understanding the nature of the latter. The current in the conductor is a vector field of particle velocities (if they are particles with the same charge). But we usually do not take these details into account when describing the current. We average this current.

If we take only one particle (naturally charged and moving), then the current equal to the product of the charge and the instantaneous speed at a particular moment of time exists exactly where this particle is located. Remember how it was in the song of the duet Ivasi "It's time for a beer": "... if the climate is heavy and hostile astral, if the train left and took all the rails..." :)

And so we came to that stump, which was mentioned at the beginning. Why does a particle have a charge (it seems that everything is clear with movement, but what is a charge)? The most fundamental particles (now for sure:) seemingly indivisible) carrying a charge are electrons, positrons (antielectrons) and quarks. It is impossible to pull out and study a single quark due to confinement, it seems easier with an electron, but it is also not very clear yet. At the moment, it is clear that the current is quantized: there are no charges less than the charge of an electron (quarks are observed only in the form of hadrons with the total charge of the same or zero). An electric field separately from a charged particle can exist only in conjunction with a magnetic field, as an electromagnetic wave, the quantum of which is a photon. Perhaps some interpretation of the nature of the electric charge lies in the field of quantum physics. For example, the Higgs field she predicted and recently discovered (there is a boson, there is a field) explains the mass of a series of particles, and mass is a measure of how a particle responds to a gravitational field. Maybe with a charge, as with a measure of response to an electric field, some similar story will be revealed. Why is there a mass and why is there a charge - these are somewhat related questions.

Much is known about the nature of electric current, but the most important thing is not yet known.

Or electric shock called a directionally moving stream of charged particles, such as electrons. Also called electricity is the energy obtained as a result of such movement of charged particles, and the lighting that is obtained on the basis of this energy. The term "electricity" was introduced by the English scientist William Gilbert in 1600 in his essay On the Magnet, Magnetic Bodies, and the Great Magnet, the Earth.

Gilbert conducted experiments with amber, which, as a result of friction against the cloth, was able to attract other light bodies, that is, it acquired a certain charge. And since amber is translated from Greek as an electron, the phenomenon observed by the scientist was called "electricity".

Electricity

A little theory about electricity

Electricity is able to create an electric field around conductors of electric current or charged bodies. By means of an electric field, it is possible to influence other bodies that have an electric charge.fv

Electric charges, as everyone knows, are divided into positive and negative. This choice is conditional, however, due to the fact that it has long been made historically, it is only for this reason that a certain sign is assigned to each charge.

Bodies that are charged with the same type of sign repel each other, and those that have different charges, on the contrary, attract.

During the movement of charged particles, that is, the existence of electricity, in addition to the electric field, a magnetic field also arises. This allows you to set relationship between electricity and magnetism.

It is interesting that there are bodies that conduct electric current or bodies with very high resistance. This was discovered by the English scientist Stephen Gray in 1729.

The study of electricity, most fully and fundamentally, is engaged in such a science as thermodynamics. However, the quantum properties of electromagnetic fields and charged particles are studied by a completely different science - quantum thermodynamics, however, some of the quantum phenomena can be quite simply explained by ordinary quantum theories.

Basics of electricity

The history of the discovery of electricity

To begin with, it must be said that there is no such scientist who can be considered the discoverer of electricity, since from ancient times to the present day, many scientists study its properties and learn something new about electricity.

The first who became interested in electricity was the ancient Greek philosopher Thales. He discovered that amber, which is rubbed against wool, acquires the property of attracting other light bodies.
Then another ancient Greek scientist, Aristotle, studied some eels, which struck enemies, as we now know, with an electric discharge.
In 70 AD, the Roman writer Pliny studied the electrical properties of resin.
However, then for a long time no knowledge was gained about electricity.
And only in the 16th century, the court physician of the English Queen Elizabeth 1, William Gilbert, began to study electrical properties and made a number of interesting discoveries. After that, literally "electrical insanity" began.
Only in 1600 did the term "electricity" appear, introduced by the English scientist William Gilbert.
In 1650, thanks to the mayor of Magdeburg, Otto von Guericke, who invented the electrostatic machine, it became possible to observe the effect of repulsion of bodies under the influence of electricity.
In 1729, the English scientist Stephen Gray, while conducting experiments on the transmission of electric current over a distance, accidentally discovered that not all materials have the ability to transmit electricity in the same way.
In 1733, the French scientist Charles Dufay discovered the existence of two types of electricity, which he called glass and resin. They received these names due to the fact that they were detected by rubbing glass on silk and resin on wool.
The first capacitor, that is, the storage of electricity, was invented by the Dutchman Pieter van Muschenbroek in 1745. This capacitor was called the Leyden jar.
In 1747, the American B. Franklin created the world's first theory of electricity. According to Franklin, electricity is an intangible liquid or fluid. Another merit of Franklin to science is that he invented a lightning rod and with it proved that lightning has an electrical origin. He also introduced such concepts as positive and negative charges, but did not discover the charges. This discovery was made by the scientist Simmer, who proved the existence of charge poles: positive and negative.
The study of the properties of electricity passed to the exact sciences after in 1785 Coulomb discovered the law on the force of interaction occurring between point electric charges, which was called Coulomb's Law.
Then, in 1791, the Italian scientist Galvani published a treatise on the fact that in the muscles of animals, when they move, an electric current arises.
The invention of the battery by another Italian scientist - Volt in 1800, led to the rapid development of the science of electricity and to the subsequent series of important discoveries in this area.
This was followed by the discoveries of Faraday, Maxwell and Ampère, which took place in just 20 years.
In 1874, the Russian engineer A.N. Lodygin received a patent for an incandescent lamp with a carbon rod invented in 1872. Then a tungsten rod was used in the lamp. And in 1906, he sold his patent to the Thomas Edison Company.
In 1888, Hertz registers electromagnetic waves.
In 1879, Joseph Thomson discovers the electron, which is the material carrier of electricity.
In 1911, the Frenchman Georges Claude invented the world's first neon lamp.
The twentieth century gave the world the theory of quantum electrodynamics.
In 1967, another step was taken towards the study of the properties of electricity. This year the theory of electroweak interactions was created.

However, these are only the main discoveries made by scientists, and contributed to the use of electricity. But research continues even now, and every year there are discoveries in the field of electricity.

Everyone is sure that the greatest and most powerful in terms of discoveries related to electricity was Nikola Tesla. He himself was born in the Austrian Empire, now it is the territory of Croatia. In his baggage of inventions and scientific works: alternating current, field theory, ether, radio, resonance and much more. Some admit the possibility that the phenomenon of the “Tunguska meteorite” is nothing more than the work of the hands of Nikola Tesla himself, namely, an explosion of enormous power in Siberia.

Master of the World - Nikola Tesla

For a while it was believed that electricity did not exist in nature. However, after B. Franklin established that lightning has an electrical origin, this opinion ceased to exist.

The importance of electricity in nature, as well as in human life, is quite huge. After all, it was lightning that led to the synthesis of amino acids and, consequently, to the emergence of life on earth..

Processes in the nervous system of humans and animals, such as movement and breathing, occur due to the nerve impulse that occurs due to the electricity that exists in the tissues of living beings.

Some types of fish use electricity, or rather electrical discharges, to protect themselves from enemies, search for food under water and get it. These fish are: eels, lampreys, electric rays and even some sharks. All these fish have a special electric organ that works on the principle of a capacitor, that is, it accumulates a sufficiently large electric charge, and then discharges it onto the victim who has touched such a fish. Also, such an organ operates at a frequency of several hundred hertz and has a voltage of several volts. The current strength of the electric organ of fish changes with age: the older the fish becomes, the greater the current strength. Also, thanks to the electric current, fish that live at great depths navigate in the water. The electric field is distorted by the action of objects in the water. And these distortions help the fish navigate.

Deadly experiences. Electricity

Getting electricity

Power plants were specially created to generate electricity. Power plants use generators to create electricity, which is then transferred to places of consumption through power lines. Electric current is created due to the transition of mechanical or internal energy into electrical energy. Power plants are divided into: hydroelectric power plants or hydroelectric power plants, thermal nuclear, wind, tidal, solar and other power plants.

In hydroelectric power plants, the turbines of the generator, moving under the influence of the flow of water, generate electricity. In thermal power plants or, in other words, CHPs, electric current is also generated, but instead of water, water vapor is used, which occurs in the process of heating water during the combustion of fuel, such as coal.

A very similar principle of operation is used in a nuclear power plant or nuclear power plant. Only nuclear power plants use a different type of fuel - radioactive materials, such as uranium or plutonium. There is a fission of their nuclei, due to which a very large amount of heat is released, which is used to heat the water and turn it into water vapor, which then enters the turbine that generates electricity. These stations require very little fuel to operate. So ten grams of uranium generates the same amount of electricity as a car of coal.

Use of electricity

Nowadays, life without electricity is becoming impossible. It is quite densely entered into the life of people of the twenty-first century. Often electricity is used for lighting, for example, using an electric or neon lamp, and for transmitting all kinds of information using telephone, television and radio, and in the past, telegraph. Also, back in the twentieth century, a new area of application of electricity appeared: a power source for electric motors in trams, subway trains, trolleybuses and electric trains. Electricity is necessary for the operation of various household appliances, which significantly improve the life of a modern person.

Today, electricity is also used to produce quality materials and process them. With the help of electric guitars, powered by electricity, you can create music. Also, electricity continues to be used as a humane way of killing criminals (electric chair) in countries that allow the death penalty.

Also, given that the life of a modern person becomes almost impossible without computers and cell phones, which require electricity to operate, the importance of electricity will be difficult to overestimate.

Electricity in mythology and art

In the mythology of almost all peoples there are gods who are able to throw lightning, that is, who know how to use electricity. For example, among the Greeks, Zeus was such a god, among the Hindus, Agni, who knew how to turn into lightning, among the Slavs, it was Perun, and among the Scandinavian peoples, Thor.

Cartoons also have electricity. So in the Disney cartoon Black Cape there is an anti-hero Megavolt, who is able to command electricity. In Japanese animation, the Pokemon Pikachu has electricity.

Conclusion

The study of the properties of electricity began in ancient times and continues to this day. Having learned the basic properties of electricity and learning how to use them correctly, people have greatly facilitated their lives. Electricity is also used in factories, factories, etc., that is, it can be used to receive other benefits. The importance of electricity, both in nature and in the life of modern man, is enormous. Without such an electrical phenomenon as lightning, life would not have arisen on earth, and without nerve impulses, which also arise due to electricity, it would not be possible to ensure coordinated work between all parts of organisms.

People have always been grateful to electricity, even when they did not know about its existence. They endowed their main gods with the ability to throw lightning.

Modern man also does not forget about electricity, but is it possible to forget about it? He endows cartoon and movie characters with electrical abilities, builds power plants to generate electricity, and much more.

Thus, electricity is the greatest gift given to us by nature itself and which we, fortunately, have learned to use.

The life of a modern person is organized in such a way that its infrastructure support involves many components with different technical and functional properties. These include electricity. An ordinary consumer does not see and does not feel exactly how it performs its tasks, but the end result is quite noticeable in the work of household appliances, and not only. At the same time, questions regarding where electricity comes from remain unsolved in the minds of many users of the same household appliances. To expand knowledge in this area, it is worth starting with the concept of electricity as such.

What is electricity?

The complexity of this concept is quite understandable, since energy cannot be described as an ordinary object or phenomenon accessible to visual perception. At the same time, there are two approaches to answering the question of what electricity is. The definition of scientists says that electricity is a stream of charged particles, which is characterized by directional movement. As a rule, particles are understood as electrons.

In the energy industry itself, electricity is more often considered as a product generated by substations. From this point of view, the elements that are directly involved in the process of formation and transmission of current are also important. That is, in this case, we consider an energy field created around a conductor or other charged body. To bring this understanding of energy closer to real observation, one must deal with the following question: where does electricity come from? There are different technical means for the production of current, and all of them are subordinated to one task - the supply of end consumers. However, before the moment when users can provide their devices with energy, it must go through several stages.

Electricity generation

To date, about 10 types of stations are used in the energy sector, which provide electricity generation. This is a process, as a result of which a certain type of energy is converted into a current charge. In other words, electricity is generated during the processing of other energy. In particular, at specialized substations they use thermal, wind, tidal, geothermal and others as the main working resource. Answering the question of where electricity comes from, it is worth noting the infrastructure that each substation is provided with. Any power generator is provided with a complex system of functional nodes and networks that allow you to accumulate the generated energy and prepare it for further transmission to distribution nodes.

Traditional power plants

Although in recent years, trends in the energy sector have been changing rapidly, it is possible to single out the main ones working according to classical principles. First of all, these are thermal generation facilities. The development of the resource is carried out as a result of combustion and subsequent transformation of the allocated. At the same time, there are different types of such stations, including heating and condensing. The main difference between them is the ability of objects of the second type to also generate heat flows. That is, when answering the question of where electricity comes from, one can also note stations that simultaneously produce other types of energy. In addition to thermal production facilities, hydro and nuclear power stations are quite common. In the first case, it is assumed from the movement of water, and in the second - as a result of the fission of atoms in special reactors.

Alternative energy sources

It is customary to refer to this category of energy sources as solar rays, wind, subsoil, etc. Especially common are various generators focused on the accumulation and conversion of solar energy into electricity. Such installations are attractive in that they can be used by any consumer in the volumes required to supply his home. However, the high cost of equipment, as well as nuances in operation, due to the dependence of working photocells on

At the level of large energy companies, wind alternative sources of electricity are actively developing. Already today, a number of countries are using programs for the gradual transition to this type of energy supply. However, there are some obstacles in this direction, due to the low power of generators at a high cost. A relatively new alternative energy source is the natural heat of the Earth. In this case, the stations convert the thermal energy received from the depths of underground channels.

Electricity distribution

After the generation of electricity, the stage of its transmission and distribution begins, which is provided by energy sales companies. Resource providers organize the appropriate infrastructure, which is based on electrical networks. There are two types of channels through which electricity is transmitted - overhead and underground cable lines. These networks are the ultimate source and the main answer to the question of where electricity comes from for various needs of users. Supplier organizations are laying special routes for the distribution of electricity, using different types of cables.

Consumers of electricity

Electricity is required for a wide variety of tasks in both domestic and industrial sectors. A classic example of the use of this energy carrier is lighting. Today, however, electricity in the home serves to power a wider range of appliances and equipment. And this is only a small part of society's needs for energy supply.

This resource is also required to maintain the operation of the transport infrastructure: to maintain the lines of trolleybuses, trams and metro, etc. Separately, it is worth noting industrial enterprises. Factories, combines and processing complexes often require the connection of huge capacities. We can say that these are the largest consumers of electricity, using this resource to ensure the operation of technological equipment and local infrastructure.

Electricity facilities management

In addition to the organization of the electric grid economy, which technically provides the possibility of transmission and distribution of energy for end consumers, the operation of this complex is impossible without control systems. To implement these tasks, suppliers use operational dispatch centers, whose employees implement centralized control and management of the work of the electric power facilities entrusted to them. In particular, such services control the parameters of networks to which consumers of electricity are connected at different levels. Separately, it is worth noting the departments that perform network maintenance, preventing wear and tear and repairing damage in certain sections of the lines.

Conclusion

Over the entire period of its existence, the energy industry has undergone several stages of its development. Recently, there have been new changes due to the active development of alternative energy sources. The successful development of these areas already today makes it possible to use electricity in the house, received from individual household generators, regardless of the central networks. However, there are certain difficulties in these sectors. First of all, they are associated with financial costs for the purchase and installation of appropriate equipment - the same solar panels with batteries. But since the energy generated from alternative sources is completely free, the prospects for further advancement of these areas remain relevant for different categories of consumers.