Text 13 Nature of Electricity

The first recorded observation on electricity was made by the ancient Greek philosopher Phales. He stated that a piece of amber rubbed with fur attracted light objects. But more than 22 centuries passed before the study of magnetism and of electrical phenomena began by Galileo and other scientists.

It was well known that not only amber, but many other substances having been rubbed behave like amber i.e. can be electrified. It was discovered that any 2 dissimilar substances forced into contact and then separated became electrified, or acquired electrical charges.

During the 19^th century the idea of the nature of electricity was completely revolutionized. The atom was regarded as the ultimate subdivision of matter. Today the atom is regarded as an electrical system. In this electrical system there is a nucleus containing positively charged particles called protons. The nucleus is surrounded by lighter negatively charged units – electrons. So the most essential constituent of matter is made up of electrically charged particles. Matter is neutral and produces no electrical effects when it has equal amounts of both charges.

But when the number of negative charge is unlike the number of positive ones, matter will produce electrical effects. Having lost some of its electrons, the atom has a positive charge: having an excess of electrons – it has a negative charge.

Text 14 atmospheric electricity

Electricity plays such an important part in modern life that in order to get it, men have been burning millions of tons of coal. Coal is burned instead of its being mainly used as a source of valuable chemical substances which it contains. Therefore, finding new sources of electric energy is a most important problem that scientists and engineers try to solve.

Hundreds of millions of volts are required for a lightning spark about one and a half kilometre long. However, this does not represent very much energy because of the intervals between single thunderstorms. As for the power spent in producing lightning flashes all over the world, it is only about 1/10,000 of the power got by man­kind from the sun, both in the form of light and that of heat. Thus, the source in question may interest only the scientists of the future.

Atmospheric electricity is the earliest manifestation of electricity known to man. However, nobody understood that phenomenon and its properties until Benjamin Franklin made his kite experiment. On studying the Leyden jar (for long years the only known condenser), Franklin began thinking that lightning was a strong spark of electricity. He began experimenting in order to draw electricity from the clouds to the earth. The story about his famous kite is known all over the world.

On a stormy day Franklin and his son went into the country taking with them some necessary things such as: a kite with a long string, a, key and so on. The key was connected to the lower end of the string. "If lightning is the same as electricity," Franklin thought, "then some of its sparks must come down the kite string to the key." Soon the kite was flying high among the clouds where lightning flashed. However, the kite having been raised, some time passed before there was any proof of its being electrified. Then the rain fell and wetted the string. The wet string conducted the electricity from the clouds down the string to the key. Franklin and his son both saw electric sparks which grew bigger and stronger. Thus, it was proved that lightning is a discharge of electricity like that got from the batteries of Leyden jars.

Trying to develop a method of protecting buildings during thunderstorms, Franklin continued studying that problem and invented the lightning conductor. He wrote necessary instructions for the installation of his invention, the principle of his lightning conductor being in use until now. Thus, protecting buildings from strokes of lightning was the first discovery in the field of electricity employed for the good of mankind.