Illuminating the Past: How Electricity Has Changed Our Lives

Electricity is an invention that has completely transformed our lives, from the way we light our homes to the way we travel. It has enabled us to work and communicate at all times, improving productivity and efficiency. Moreover, the discovery of electricity has made possible many innovations in medicine, transportation, and entertainment. For example, it has allowed medical equipment to be powered, which has contributed to better health outcomes. Transportation has also become more efficient with the advent of electric cars, trains, and airplanes. In addition, electricity has transformed entertainment, with the ability to watch movies, listen to music, and play games all powered by electricity. Although the benefits of electricity are undeniable, it is essential to note the environmental implications of its widespread use. As the demand for electricity grows, so does the need for more power plants, which can lead to air and water pollution. Therefore, it is important to find sustainable and renewable energy sources that will minimize the impact of electricity on the environment. Overall, to answer the question,  "how has electricity changed our lives?", this essay emphasizes the tremendous impact of electricity on our lives while also being aware of its environmental consequences.

Nowadays we do not need to chops trees if we want to cook, we just turn on our kitchen stoves which uses electricity and if want to warm up ourselves we just turn on heater which also convert electrical energy into heat energy. This brought up a very big change to the world. Imagine coming back from work tired and hungry, and you still have to go fetch wood so you could be able to prepare dinner for your family, There is a very high probability that you could even burn your house, electricity has decreased the load that we had to carry as human beings. Without it we are not complete. Electricity formed part as the fundamental of other inventions and discoveries. Most machines and other devices operate using the laws and principles of electricity, even though we still try to modify those machines, electricity still forms the significant part since it is still in use. For example, Light bulbs which we use them for light in the dark instead of using the body fluids collected from big mammals(whale) in some random oceans to light up the room (which were candles and gas) and again electricity came up with refrigerators so we can be able to freeze our meat that we’ve hunted. And decreasing bacteria content in it, instead of being forced to finish the meat within a short period of time to protect the meat from being spoiled. Another example are industries which has many machines that operates using electricity, Which have a large impact on the production in a short period of time, rather than doing the work by hand which would have affected our economy. Since we would have had very low production in such a long time. All of this wouldn’t have happened without electricity.

Electricity is another form of energy which we get from the existence of charged particles such as electrons(negatively charged particles) and protons(positively charged particle), either statically as an accumulation of charge or dynamically as a current(flow of charges). These charges are powered by an power plant/source to be able to move in the circuit from positive to negative terminal, repeating the same cycle/pattern which creates electrical work. Electricity is produced by coal plants and nuclear power plants. These electrons uses conductors(usually metals) covered by the insulators(usually plastics and rubber materials, since electrons cannot go through these materials and to protect us from touching the electrons themselves, because they can be very dangerous when we touch them, they produce electric shock which is very hurtful it can even kill you if there was very high potential difference supplied) as their path. Electricity is divided into many parts for example we have electric current which we most often use nowadays in our households, whereby it looks in two types of circuits namely, series connection (resistors are connected in series) and parallel connection (resistors are connected in parallel) which is the most used type of connection in many households and circuit breaker to save electrical energy, since the current splits when resistors(device used to decrease the speed of electrons in the circuit hence using it own electrical energy) are connected in parallel hence using less energy compared to series connection whereby current doesn’t split hence using a lot of electrical energy. And there is electrostatics which is the study of electrons in a static motion (not moving) it has various applications in the real world namely laser printers, ink jet printer and electrostatic precipitators(smoke precipitators) and many more. Electrochemical cells which make use of chemicals to generate electricity which is very useful in many industries. The last part of electricity is electrodynamics(magnetism) it is the interaction of electric current with magnetic field inducing emf(electromotive force) its real life application are generators(they convert mechanical energy to electrical energy) and motors( they convert electrical energy to mechanical energy). We use generators as other power sources when electricity went off in our households it is very helpful especially in hospitals. Motors are most used in vehicles, robots, in industrial equipment etc. without these small parts of electricity our life’s wouldn’t have been this easier. Electricity was not discovered all at once but at first it was associated to light and we had many beautiful minds which contributed in electricity as we’ve saw above that electricity is divided into many parts. Benjamin franklin was the first discover of electricity. He was born in the town of Boston on the 17th of January 1706 and died on 17th April 1790 after a lung burst( caused by pleurisy).

In the late 1700s Benjamin’s friend peter passed to him an electrical tube and when he analysed it interest of electricity to him was stimulated, And decided to conduct an experiment regarding the principles of electricity. He first predicted that electricity was fluid. He tied a key to a kite string during the thunderstorm since lightning produces electric spark. And he died before coming into conclusion even though his prediction was wrong. Producing and using electricity was not that easy but in 1800 an Italian scientist Alessandro Volta created the first cell. He soaked a paper with zinc and copper on either sides in a salt water medium and saw chemical reaction producing current.

As time went by an English scientist came up with some interesting news about the induction of emf due to the change of magnetic flux(measurement of magnetic field which passes through a given area) his name was Michael Faraday, he was born on the 22nd of September 1791 and died on the 25th of August 1867. He said that emf produced around a closed loop is proportional to the change in magnetic flux through any surface bounded by this closed loop(E=-N*dQ/dt) this was the mathematical equation implying his statement. He did his experiment by two coils of wire around am iron-ring, he found that when you pass current on one coil current was created on the other loop. When he moved a magnet inside these loops or move the coils of wires on a stationary magnet either way there was a flow of electric current. In the same century an English scientist Thomas Edison invented a light bulb which last longer before it’s burn out, he used an ordinary cotton thread which was soaked in carbon which glowed and did not burn, which we know as incandescent nowadays. And he is the one who created the first electric power plant to transport electricity to our households using copper wires.

Likewise a Croatian scientist came along to work with Thomas Edison in the united states. His name was Nikola Tesla, he was born on the 10th of July 1856 in the town of Smiljan. He died on the 17th of January 1943. After a fall out between the two colleagues, tesla discovered a rotating magnetic field and created AC current(alternating current) electrical system which is used in most places today to transport power. He teamed up with George Westinghouse (famous engineer and business man) to provide the nation with power that could travel long distances, which made it more useful than Thomas’s Direct current power plant because it could only provide electricity within a square mile. As time went by tesla came up with a tesla coil which is well known these days, it is usually used in science labs and radio technology etc. Without these intelligent brains, all of these divisions of electricity wouldn’t have been discovered. Electricity has many advantages for example, It’s light up the streets and our homes through light bulbs, Easy to distribute/transport, it’s improves communication through nowadays gadgets and it is the most accessible source of energy in urban areas. Useful in hospitals mainly with x-rays so doctors will be able to take picture of the inside part of humans.

However, there is no Casanova without a weakness. Electricity has some disadvantages, when it is produced through coal plants, nuclear power plants and others it can be harmful to the environment as it is causing global warming, many habitats are destroyed due to the space needed to produce it, Electric devices presents a shock hazard which can be very dangerous when it comes in massive voltage, most people have became dependent to it, it would be even hard to function without it in an emergency and nowadays the cost of it is increasing, which could be difficult for other people because not everyone will be able to afford it. Inventions and discoveries are the most celebrated things nowadays which made our life’s easier compared to ancient life.

Electricity is amongst these marvellous discoveries which I still believe is most important compared to other inventions and discoveries. Can you imagine life without electricity? do you even think about refrigerators which helps us to refrigerate our staff so it cannot be easily spoiled, would have existed without electricity? What about light bulbs which we use them to light up our streets and households, do you think there would have been there? It’s even crazy when you think about it in a broad manner, even a lot of machines wouldn’t have been operating if there was no electricity. Indeed it formed a significant part even in our lives too.