Electricity
Benefits
Electricity is important for lighting rooms, working fans and domestic appliances like using electric stoves, A/C and all technology. When it comes to travelling, electricity is important for the use of electric trains, aeroplanes and even some cars.
If you think about facilities such as schools, medical facilities such as hospitals and retail facilities, all need electricity to run efficiently. When it comes to the medical field, electricity allows for the availability of X-rays, ECG’s and instant results regarding blood tests, as well as anything else. It allows for a more efficient medical practice in these facilities. Electricity is also important for the purpose and operation of machines such as computers or monitors that display data to enhance medicine. Without electricity, hospitals and medicine would not be able to be advanced and cure illnesses, which would also result in more casualties.
Negative Impact
The environmental problems directly related to energy production and consumption include air pollution, climate change, water pollution, thermal pollution, and solid waste disposal. The emission of air pollutants from fossil fuel combustion is the major cause of urban air pollution. Solid waste is also a by-product of some forms of energy usage. Coal mining requires the removal of large quantities of earth as well as coal.
Electricity production (25% of 2020 greenhouse gas emissions) – Electric power generates the second largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. Approximately 60% of our electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, mostly coal and natural gas in US. Now University of Washington researchers have found that air pollution from electricity generation emissions in 2014 led to about 16,000 premature deaths in the continental U.S.
Invention History
Many people think Benjamin Franklin invented electricity with his famous kite-flying experiments in 1752. Franklin is famous for tying a key to a kite string during a thunderstorm, proving that static electricity and lighting were indeed, the same thing.
From the writings of Thales of Miletus it appears that Westerners knew as long ago as 600 B.C. that amber becomes charged by rubbing. There was little real progress until the English scientist William Gilbert in 1600 described the electrification of many substances and coined the term electricity from the Greek word for amber. As a result, Gilbert is called the father of modern electricity.
In 1800, Alessandro Volta, an Italian scientist, made a great discovery. He soaked paper in salt water, 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.
An English scientist, Michael Faraday, was the first one to realize that an electric current could be produced by passing a magnet through a copper wire. Almost all the electricity we use today is made with magnets and coils of copper wire in giant power plants. Both the electric generator and electric motor are based on this principle.
In 1879, Thomas Edison focused on inventing a practical light bulb, one that would last a long time before burning out. He designed and built the first electric power plant that was able to produce electricity and carry it to people’s homes.
References
https://www.washington.edu/news/2019/11/20/electricity-generation-emissions-premature-deaths/
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions
https://7ad3lz9zmyhppfq26wugt151-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/Files/curriculum/infobook/ElecHisI.pdf
