Convert kilovoltamps (kva) to kilowatts (kW)

 

 

The fan, toaster, kettle, and sewing machine were the first household items powered by electricity.

 

 A spark of static electricity can reach 3,000 volts.

 

 In 1879, Mosley Street in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, was the first street in the world to be lit by electric bulbs.

 

 A lightning strike can reach 3 million volts and last less than one second.

 

 Electric current travels at the speed of light – about 300,000 kilometers per second.

Every time you turn on a toaster or charge your phone, you use the speed of light, three hundred thousand kilometers per second. You can go around the globe ten times in just one second at this speed. A trip from Earth to the Moon would take the same time. And a journey from the Earth to the Sun would take eight minutes. And this is the speed at which you get an electric current in your socket! By the way! Everything we were told about electricity in physics lessons in school is untrue. We were told that electric current is a flow of charged particles, electrons. Forget about it. They do not even move. Let's look at a conductor with current. Electrons are like a sea wave. They are attracted to each other and then return to their places.

 

However, we receive energy through electric and magnetic fields that form around the current conductor. The simplest circuit is a battery and a light bulb. One wire connects the "minus" of the battery to the light bulb, and the other goes to the "plus" of the battery. When the circuit is turned on, an electric current flows from the battery to the light bulb and then back again. But if the textbooks were true, the light bulb would not light up because the flow of electrons would be moving in the opposite direction from the bulb. Now let's look at the fields. The red lines are the magnetic field. It always appears around an electric current conductor. The green lines are the electric field. It is around each electric charge.

 

Place your hand so that your fingers are in the direction of the electric field. Now bend them in the direction of the magnetic field. Your thumb points toward the energy flow, from the battery to the light bulb. Let's do the same thing, from the light bulb to the battery. Bend the fingers on your right hand and ... Voila! Your thumb still points toward the light bulb, only it's upside down. This is why the light bulb works and why energy flows from the source to the consumer. This is how electricity is transferred at the speed of light through energy flow. More proof that electrons do not flow directly from the power plant to your outlet is the transformers.

 

These are boxes or barrels on power lines. Inside them are two coils, and they do not touch. Electrons do not jump from one coil to the other. An electric current that passes through one coil creates a magnetic field around it. The field, in turn, creates an electric current in the opposite coil and converts high-voltage electric current into current that goes to the sockets. That's why these devices are called transformers. Let's find out how to create an electric current. You need to use generators - this can be just a magnet and a coil. All you need to do is rotate the magnet inside the coil. The constant movement of the magnetic field will create an electric current. Or you can do the opposite - move the coils around the magnet. Most of the electricity on the planet is produced using generators. Only the methods of their rotation differ. The most common generator needs steam.

 

For this, you need coal or gas. The fuel burns and heats the water. The water turns into steam and goes through pipes to the turbine. This thing with blades looks like an airplane engine and works similarly. Steam passes through the blades and turns a turbine at incredible speeds. The turbine turns a generator, and the magnet rotates between the coils. Then, when you connect wires to the coils, you get a current. The steam passes through giant chimneys called cooling towers. The clouds of smoke that come out of them are not smoke, but steam. There is usually artificial rain inside them. When water droplets touch the pipes carrying hot steam from the turbine, the water evaporates. The cooled steam in the pipes turns into water, then heats up again, turns into steam, turns the turbine, and so on. Those are the important electricity measurement units: KVA and KW.