Various Methods of Electricity Production - Essay Example

Introduction It is widely accepted by anthropologists and scientist that the rise of man was founded on the discovery of fire (Cook, 7). With fire, man was able to live in a variety of habitats, cook a variety of foods and ward off predators. Fire freed man to develop language and culture by him giving him light and warmth, enabling him to tell stories at night, paint in caves and increase his leisure time. In the 1981 movie Quest for Fire, tribes of early humans are shown at the dawn of history when humans had to hunt, gather and preserve existing fire. It is the story about a tribe's "quest" to find a source of fire after their fire is extinguished by the elements. Even though these early humans had no understanding of electricity, the movie depicts them looking for lightning to reignite their fire! It is clear in the film that the first fire available to mankind came from electricity in the form of lightning (Cook 7). It seems that electricity was the first real power used by man. Long before the lever, the wheel or the windmill mankind was reaping the benefits of fire created by the natural electricity of lightning. Man made electricity has earlier roots than one might suspect as well. Evidence has been uncovered that the ancient Egyptians used crude batteries to produce electrical charges (Mythbusters, 2005). The Egyptians fashioned clay pots as containers and filled them with high acid citrus juice. They then connected primitive cables made of copper to the clay jars. On the popular Discovery Channel series Mythbusters the cast recreates the Egyptian battery to test if this notion of early batteries is fact or myth. Much to their surprise the primitive invention does in fact produce a very small electrical charge. They speculate that Egyptians might have used this electricity to amaze and frighten pharos's subjects. By hooking the batteries up to statues of the pharos and other deities the ancient Egyptians gave their pharaoh a little help in the "powerful and mystical" department (Mythbusters, 2005). We will likely never know the whole story behind these ancient batteries but it is interesting to consider how early mankind was experimenting with electricity. Since ancient times many forms of electricity generation have been discovered and utilized. But first, in order to understand these various sources it is important to understand the history and development of electricity as a primary source of energy. The Rise of Electricity The ancient Greeks, Romans, Chinese and the Persians all experimented with crude inventions to harness electricity with very limited success. Even the explosion of science during the Middle Ages in Europe added little to the understanding electricity (Dell & Rand,125). In 1214 Roger Bacon experimented with the properties of amber and lodestone but electricity was primarily used to "amuse and frighten the ignorant" (Canby,12). Like the Egyptians, European scientists of the Middle Ages viewed electricity as a "parlor trick" and it's usefulness was deemed limited (Dell & Rand, 125). It wasn't until 1600 when William Gilbert, physician to Queen Elisabeth, wrote an impressive paper on magnetism, that the scientist of Europe began to seriously consider scientific study of electricity (Canby,13). The De Magnete written by Gilbert was widely read by the educated class of Europe and interest in electricity surged. Gilbert also created the first list of elements that contain electric and magnetic properties (Wikipedia,2007). In 1660, Otto van Guericke built the first machine to produce an electrical charge (Canby, 18). The glass globe had a sulfur ball inside and created a lightning like charge that amazed the people of Guericke's day. During this time advances in the understanding of electricity was painfully slow and it wasn't until 1709 that the next big discovery was made. In England, Francis Hawkenbee built an improved version of the "glass globe" and conducted many other useful experiments. Next, in 1729 Steven Gray of the Grayfriars School in England discovered conduction and wrote about the principles of the actual flow of electricity (Wikipedia, 2007). The problem with electricity at this time was that it could not be collected, stored or transported. Therefore the study of electricity now focused itself on these difficult issues (Cook, 8). In 1745 E. G. von Kliest, bishop of Pomerania began experimenting with collecting electricity in a bottle. He filled a jar with water and touched it with charged wire and received what is thought to be the first "electric shock" which "stunned his arms and his shoulders" ( Canby,21). Around this same time, in Leyden, Holland, a distinguished professor van Musschenbroek used an electric machine connected to a heavy metal conductor, he too tried the jar of water and received a violent shock. His experiment resulted in the creation of "the Leyden jar" the first crude storage method for electricity (Canby,22). These first electrical experiments produced fear even among the scientists who conducted them. Van Musschenbroek called his experiment "new and terrible" and advised colleagues never to replicate it (Canby 24)! Of course, as with any new forbidden, frightening power, the first thing people wanted to do was try it! Leyden jars were soon everywhere. People were amused, amazed and entertained by the electrical charges and saw electricity once again as a magical form of entertainment. In Paris in 1745 the kings guards were all lined up for a demonstrations and before the king (Cook, 10). Lynden jars were used as pranks and as weapons and it was discovered that they could kill small animals! It was also noticed that when people were lined up holding hands that the charge was delivered simultaneously and in 1747 William Watson of England transmitted an electrical charge over a wire two miles long (Canby,22). Next, a Scottish inventor James Watt began experimenting with steam and created the first steam engine that would later play a vital role in the production of mass power (Wikipedia,2007). Over the next few years an American philosopher, politician and scientist would take over the forefront of the scientific investigation of electricity, his name was Benjamin Franklin (Canby,38). Benjamin Franklin was fascinated with electricity. He provided the terms positive and negative electricity that are still in use today. He was one of the first to experiment with the lightning rod and wrote about it in his famous "Poor Richard Almanac" (Cook, 20). He was also one of the first scientists to make the connection between lightning and electricity ( Cook,21 ). Considering the experiences of early man in looking for lightning storms to generate fire, it took an incredibly long time for mankind to truly make the connection between lightning and energy. As seems to be the case with most all scientific discoveries, many scientists around the world were experimenting with the same electrical principles as Franklin. After his famous kite experiment that proved electrical conduction and that lightning was in fact electricity, scientist around the world rushed to duplicate his results. Scientists Dalibard, Romas and Professor Richman in various parts of Europe completed similar experiments. Unfortunately, due to the unknown dangers of electricity, Professor Richman was killed while conducting his experiment and is thought to be the first scientist to die while studying electricity (Canby,37). Benjamin Franklin was known for his good nature, sense of humor and his love for socializing with his fellow politicians. It said that Franklin saw the entertainment value of electricity and threw an "electric party" on the banks of a river in Philadelphia. It was a grand picnic that featured an electric charge sent through the river that sent sparks from side to side, a turkey that was killed and roasted by an electric shock and a fire that was generated by a "Leyden jar" (Canby, 38)! The potential for disaster was enormous but at that time the dangers were practically unknown. The innocence of such festivities is evidence of how little was still actually understood about this mysterious source of power. After Franklins discoveries, there was an almost "frenzied" period where there are so many discoveries and advances that they are hard to keep track of. The gruesome frog legs experiment conducted by Italian scientist Luigi Galvani led science to believe that electricity could be the key to life itself . Galvani hooked a pair of frog legs to a battery and when the legs moved he concluded that he had discovered "animal electricity" (Canby,39). While most scientists rushed to confirm Ggalvani's work, Professor Alexander Volta set off in a new direction. In 1796 Volta created what came to be known as the 'Volta pile" which piled up charges into a crude battery made of brine, metal discs and cardboard . He wrote of his experiments in a letter to the Royal Society of England on June 26th, 1800 ( Cook, 35). It is said that on this day, the second great era of electricity began. Over the next thirty years the most important principles of electricity were discovered. The discoveries now came in a flurry. After Volta, Danish physicist Hans Christain Oested found that a magnetic field is created around a wire through which a steady current of electricity is flowing. In 1832, English physicist Michael Faraday discovered the principle of induction (Dell & Rand, 60). Simultaneously, American Joseph Henry worked on the same ideas and both scientist are credited with establishing the basis for the electric motor and the generator. Andre Ampre, a French scientist was the first to explain electrical current in a way that made sense to the average person. He described current as little man or "le bonhomme d'Ampere'" who swims up the wire! While in Germany George Ohm was creating Ohm's law which states: "Current is directly proportional to the electric pressure and inversely proportional to the resistance of the conductors." (Canby,48) The influence of these electrical pioneers can still be felt as we continue to use terms named for them to honor their discoveries. A watt is a unit of power, an ohm is a unit of resistance, ampere is a unit of current flow and volt is a unit of electrical pressure. All are familiar terms to most any high school science student. Inventions That Changed The World One of the most influential inventions of the electrical age was the telegraph. Conceived by the American painter Samuel Morse in 1844, the telegraph began a rush to string wires across the country and created the first great communication network (Wikipedia, 2007). In 1856 the Western Union Company was formed and almost overnight instantaneous communications became possible. Next, Thomas Edison holds the first demonstration of the electric light in New Jersey on December 12, 1879. And just when it seems that things couldn't happen any faster, just seven years later in 1886, George Westinghouse builds the first commercially successful generating station in Buffalo, New York (Breeze, 2). Then in 1896 Niagra Falls, New York became the first major hydroelectric plant to provide power on a mass scale in the United States (Cook 24). Similar strides were being made in Europe and the age of mass power from electricity had begun. Man's appetite for energy would exponentially increase over the next century and finding ways to keep power flowing and expand the power grids of major population centers had become the challenge of the twentieth century. Through the 1900's the use of electricity expanded to include inventions of all kinds. Telephone, television, computers and appliances of every shape and size were now run on electricity. With this relatively new power source man was becoming increasingly dependent on electrical power resulting in an ever increasing need to create more of it! Since the time of Edison and Westinghouse numerous source of power have been developed and implemented (Breeze,6). Sources of Electricity Hydroelectric Power The era of hydroelectric power began when England built their first hydroelectric plant in in 1881 ( Cook, 8) The United States quickly followed, bringing their first hydroelectric plant in Wisconsin online 1882 ( Dell & Rand, 126). The technology of the hydroelectric plant is simple. The force of the water is used to turn a turbine that in turn runs a generator that generates electricity. The plant in Wisconsin had an output of 12kW enough to run about 250 electric lights, not exactly a powerhouse (Breeze,18). Soon it would be realized that this output could be dramatically increased by using high altitude water sources and by building dams. For the next seventy yeas industrialized countries around the world developed their hydroelectric power rapidly (Dell & Rand 127). Twenty percent of the world's power now comes from hydroelectric sources (Breeze, 18). The advantages of hydroelectric power are that it is cheap, clean and available wherever there is a water source. Coal Fired Plants The basic principle of coal fired power plants is the burning of fossil fuel in the form of coal which is in turn converted to thermal energy, then into mechanical energy and finally into electricity (Breeze, 18). In the early twentieth century coal burning power plants were being built at an astonishing rate. Coal was widely available and cheap and none of the negative effects of pollution were even known or considered. Today 38% of global energy production is from coal fired power plants and in the United States 51 % of the electricity comes from coal fired plants (Breeze,18). A whopping 65% of the electricity in China comes from coal fired operations and this number is expected to increase over the next decade as demand for energy in China grows (Chapman, 108). The attraction of coal, especially for developing countries, is that it's abundant and is the cheapest of the fossil fuels. Unfortunately it also produces the most pollution creating large quantities of ash, sulfur and nitrogen oxide (Breeze, 20). Due to their reputation as a major polluters, coal fired plants have developed a bad image especially in Europe and the United State. To counter the drawbacks of pollution, scientific developments in coal fired technology have focused on decreasing emissions and developing cleaner technologies (Chapman, 110). Nuclear Power Nuclear power plants generate power much like a coal fired plant. What makes them unique is the fuel. In the coal fired plan the furnace burns coal that turns to steam that turns the generator. Same principle in the nuclear plant except that it uses a nuclear furnace or a "reactor" to produce heat (Cook, 37). The heat is generated by splitting atoms and one ton of nuclear fuel can produce as much energy as 15,500 tons of coal (Daley,235)! The disadvantage of the nuclear power plant is dealing with the nuclear waste products. Pollution in the form of radioactive by products can be either solid or gas. Typically, nuclear plants vent the radioactive gases into the atmosphere which is destructive to the environment and a health hazard (Daley, 236). The solid waste products are even more difficult to deal with and have to be stored for centuries. Wind Power Wind energy has been exploited by man in various ways for millennia. Long before the modern era, ancient civilizations in China, India and Persia used wind to pump water and mill grain (Morris, 6). During Medieval times, windmills were used throughout Europe and remained the primary power source until the invention of the steam engine. In countries like Denmark they were unable to utilize the new technology because they lacked a supply of coal (Morris, 6). So, in 1916 when the rest of the world was building dams and coal fired power plants, Denmark built 1300 new windmills (Lomborg,134). The worldwide energy crisis has created new interest in wind power and tremendous progress has been made just in the last few decades to improve wind technologies. It is estimated that if wind energy was made a priority that over half of the world's energy needs could be met by wind energy. In order to achieve this however it would take approximately 100 million windmills (Lomborg, 135). So it seems the practical reality of mass wind power is a ways off. Solar Power "During 99.9 percent of all the time life has existed on earthsolar energy was all there was." (Wells, 40). Therefore it's not surprising that Solar energy could eventually hold the key to the worldwide energy shortage. The United States Energy Information Agency reports that solar energy could cover the requirement for the United States more that 3.5 times over but it would require vast changes and ingenuity (Lomborg, 135). Solar energy for the purposes of generating electricity requires the use of photovoltaic cells that capture the suns energy and turn it into electricity. The first working solar cells were invented by Charles Fritts in 1883. Much later in the 1950's the production and efficiency of solar cell was increased by 10% making solar power a more viable option (Wikipedia, 2007). Most solar power plants that exist today use the same principles as coal fired and nuclear plants. They use solar energy to heat water that is used to power a generator that produces electricity. However, again due to the energy crisis newfound interest in the technology of the photovoltaic cell is creating more possibilities for the mass production of solar power (Lomborg,136). One of the big problems with most electricity technologies are that so much of the energy is wasted (Breeze, 62). New systems are being designed that utilize waste heat to maximize efficiency, These are called combined systems and they typically use natural gas as fuel. Other exciting technologies being explored today include; Geothermal plants; tidal power; ocean power; and power from waste (Breeze, 36). It seems clear that the energy crisis will likely have many solutions. The various forms of energy production grew out available fuel sources in the community, therefore it makes sense to identify local resources to address local energy needs (Chapman, 11). The need for electricity will no doubt continue as will the quest by science to keep up with the demand. Our civilization is built on energy and in order to maintain our modern lifestyle and avert the impending disaster of a global energy war scientist will need to become as diligent in finding solutions to electricity production as their predecessors were with discovering it. Bibliography Breeze, Paul, Power Generation Technologies. Oxford: Newnes, 2005. Chapman, J.D., Geography and Energy. New York: Longman Scientific & Technical, 1989. Cook, Earl, Man, Energy and Society. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Co., 1976. Daley, Michael, Nuclear Power: Promise or Peril. Minneapolis: Learner Publications Co., 1997. Dell, R.M., Rand, D.A.J., Clean Energy. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2004. Canby, Edward, A History of Electricity. New York: Hawthorn Books Inc., 1963. Lomborg, Bjorn, The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the Word. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Morris, Neil, Wind Power. North Mankato, Minn.: Smartapple Media, 2007. Mythbusters, Episode 29. Discovery Channel, March, 2005. [Online] Available at: http://dsc.discovory.com/fansites/mythbusters Wells, Malcom (ed.), Notes from the Energy Underground. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1980. Internet Movie Database (IMDB), Quest for Fire. Movie, 1981, [Online] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082484/plotsummary Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2007, [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org Read More