Electricity

It is impossible to imagine our civilization without electricity: economic and social progress will be turned to the past and our daily lives completely transformed.

Electrical power has become universal. Thousands of applica­tions of electricity such as lighting, electrochemistry and electro­metallurgy are longstanding and unquestionable.

With the appearance of the electrical motor, power cables re­placed transmission shafts, gear wheels, belts and pulleys¹ in the 19-th century workshops. And in the home a whole range of various time and labour saving appliances² have become a part of our ev­eryday lives.

Other devices are based on specific properties of electricity: electrostatics in the case of photocopying machine, and electromagnetism in the case of radar and television. These applications have made electricity most widely used.

The first industrial application was in the silver workshops in Paris. The generator — a new compact source of electricity — was also developed there. The generator replaced the batteries and other devices that had been used before.

Electric lighting came into wide use at the end of the last cen­tury with the development of the electric lamp by Thomas Edison. Then the transformer was invented, the first electric lines and net­works were set up, dynamos and induction motors³ were designed.

Since the beginning of the 20th century the successful develop­ment of electricity has begun throughout the industrial world. The consumption of electricity has doubled every ten years.

Today consumption of electricity per capita⁴ is an indicator of the state of development and economic health of a nation. Elec­tricity has replaced other sources of energy as it has been realized that it offers improved service and reduced cost.

One of the greatest advantages of electricity is that it is clean, easily-regulated and generates no by-products⁵. Applications of electricity now cover all fields of human activity from house washing machines to the latest laser devices. Electricity is the efficient source of some of the most recent technological advances such as the laser and electron beams. Truly⁶ electricity provides mankind with the energy of the future.