Modern life is unthinkable without radio and television, telephones and telegraphs, and all kinds of lighting and heating devices, machines, and devices based on the possibility of
using electric current. At the end of the 19th century, a wave of discoveries related to electricity swept across the world. A chain reaction began when one discovery opened the way for subsequent discoveries for many decades.
How did the history of electricity begin? In Ancient Greece, Thales of Miletus (624 - 548 BC) noticed the electrical properties of rubbed amber, which could attract pieces of fabric, thread, and paper. The Greeks called amber "electron," which means "attracting to itself."
Before 1800, the first observations of electrical and magnetic phenomena were made, the first electrostatic machines and devices were created, and the first theories of electricity were developed.
Electricity had already become the subject of scientific study at this time. At the end of the 18th century, Luigi Galvani accidentally noticed that frog muscles contract when near an electric machine.
The beginning of this period was marked by the creation of the "voltaic pile" in 1799. The voltaic pile is the first source of continuous electric current, which played a huge role in developing the science of electricity. It remained the most common source of electric current for a long time. The voltaic pile made it possible to study electric currents and find practical applications systematically.
The most important achievements of this period are the discovery of the basic properties of electric current,
the laws of Ampere and Ohm, the creation of a prototype of an electric motor, the first indicator of electric current, and the establishment of connections between electrical and magnetic phenomena.
The scientist Pavel Lvovich Schilling created the first electromagnetic telegraph in 1832. Telegraphs proved important for transmitting fast messages, especially during military operations.
The most significant event of this period was M. Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic induction and creation of the first electric machine generator.
Michael Faraday was born into a blacksmith's family on September 22, 1791. There was not enough money, so at 13, Michael, having left school, began working as a messenger in a London bookstore and became (there) an apprentice bookbinder.
Faraday was never able to receive a systematic education, but early on, he showed curiosity and a passion for reading. There were many scientific books in the store; in his later memoirs, Faraday especially noted books on electricity and chemistry. As he read, he immediately began to conduct simple independent experiments.
A series of public lectures by the famous chemist and physicist Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution led to the discovery of many chemical elements. Michael listened with interest and wrote down and bound four of Davy's lectures in detail, which he sent along with a letter asking him to work at the Royal Institution. As Faraday himself put it, this "bold and naive step" had a decisive influence on his fate. He invited the 22-year-old young man to the vacant laboratory assistant position at the Royal Institution.
Great merits: Discovered electromagnetic induction, which is the basis of modern industrial electricity production and its applications. Created the first model of an electric motor. Among his other discoveries are the first transformer, the chemical action of current, the laws of electrolysis, the effect of a magnetic field on light, and diamagnetism. He was the first to predict electromagnetic waves. Faraday introduced the terms ion, cathode, anode, electrolyte, dielectric, diamagnetism, paramagnetism, and others into scientific circulation. Faraday is recognized as the founder of the theory of the electromagnetic field.
Various designs of electrical machines and devices were developed, the first sources of electric lighting were created, the first electro-automatic devices were introduced, and electrical measuring equipment was established.However, the widespread practical application of electrical energy was impossible due to the lack of an economical electric generator. In 1847, Hermann Helmholtz mathematically substantiated the law of conservation of energy, showing its universal nature.
However, the widespread practical application of electrical energy was impossible due to the lack of an economical electric generator.
In 1867, Werner von Siemens designs a dynamo. His main idea is to use your current generated during movement.
The creation of the first dynamo opens a new stage in the development of electrical engineering, which becomes an independent branch of technology. In connection with the development of industry and the growth of cities, there is an urgent need for electric lighting, and the construction of "house" electric stations generating direct current begins. Electric energy has become a commodity, and the need to transmit electricity over long distances is increasingly felt. It was impossible to solve this problem based on direct current due to the impossibility of transforming direct current.
The triumph of the three-phase current system dates back to 1891 when a general test of this system was carried out at the Frankfurt Electrical Exhibition by transmitting electricity from the Lauffen Falls to Frankfurt am Main (the distance between them is 175 km).
The War of the Currents is a series of events associated with the introduction of competing systems of electric power transmission in the late 1880s—early 1890s.
N. Tesla and T. Edison. The vast majority of electrical engineers then held a dismissive and distrustful attitude towards alternating current technology. The three-phase system was the most rational, as it had several advantages over single-phase circuits and other multi-phase systems.
From then on, the rapid development of electrification began: powerful power plants were built, the voltage of power transmission lines increased, and new designs of electrical machines, devices, and instruments were developed. The electric motor occupied a dominant position in the industrial drive system. The electrification process gradually covered new areas of production: electrometallurgy, electrothermy, and electrochemistry. Electrical energy has become widely used in various industries, such as transport, agriculture, and everyday life.
The growth of demand for direct current (electrochemistry, electric transport, etc.) necessitated the development of converter technology, which led to industrial electronics's emergence and rapid development.
Electrical engineering is becoming the basis for developing automated control systems for energy and production processes. The creation of various electronic, especially microelectronic devices, allows us to radically increase the efficiency of automation of computing processes and information processing, model complex physical phenomena, solve logical problems, etc., with a significant reduction in the dimensions of devices, increasing their reliability and efficiency.
Significant progress in electronics was outlined after the creation of large integrated circuits (LSI). Their speed is measured in billionths of a second, and their minimum dimensions are 2-3 microns. The introduction of LSI led to the creation of microprocessors that perform digital information processing according to a program and microcomputers.
The rapid development of microelectronics led to the emergence and noticeable progress of a new field of science and technology - computer science. In the early 80s, microprocessors and microcomputers were manufactured in one crystal. All this greatly increases reliability and reduces the dimensions and energy consumption of microelectronic devices used in various production processes, automated control systems, transport, and household devices.
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