Electrical Energy:9 Important Facts You Must Know

Electrical energy definition:

“Electrical energy is a sort of energy caused by the flow of electric charge. In the context of electrical power, the acting force is electrical attraction’s or repulsions in-between charged particles.
British scientist Michael Faraday has invented the fundamental principle of electricity generation.”

“Electrical energy is energy resulting from electric potential energy or kinetic energy—the energy stored because of the position of charged particle or electric field. The motion of charged particles via a cable or conductor is known as electricity or current.”

Static Electricity:

The static electricity is generated in separation or an imbalance from its negative and positive charges within an element. Static electricity is a sort of electric potential energy. If adequate charge build-up, the electric energy might be discharged like a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge or may even produce a spark i.e. perhaps the Lightning.

IEO2013 World Electricity Generation
Prediction of electricity generation Image Credit: Delphi234 / CC0

Examples of electrical energy:

  • Direct current (DC)
  • Alternating current (AC)
  • Natural Lightning
  • Stored energy in the Batteries
  • Stored charge of Capacitors
  • Electricity-generating cells present in “Electric Eels” fish.

Electrical Circuit Symbols:

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Electrical Circuit Symbols

Use of electrical energy:

Image Electrical Energy
Use of electrical energy image credit : pixabay free images

Electrical Energy Unit, Direction and Conversion: 

image 165
Unit of Electrical Energy

Direction of the Current:

“The direction of the current is the direction a positive charge if that placed in the electrical field. This is in reverse to the flow of electron direction.”

Coulomb:

““The quantity of electricity transferred in 1 sec by the current of 1-Amp.”

Volt:

“1 Volt is well-defined by the energy consumption of 1-joule per electric charge of 1 coulomb.”

1 V = 1 J/C

electron-volts(eV):

“An electron volt (eV) is the amount of kinetic energy gained or lost by a e- is accelerating from rest position because of an electric potential difference of 1 volt in vacuum-condition.”

Volts to watts conversion:

  • Watts (W) = Aolts (V) × Amps (A)=VA

Volts to joules conversion:

  • Joules (J) = Volts (V) × Coulombs (C)=VC

Volts to electron-volts conversion:

  • electron volts (eV) = volts (V) × electron-charge (e) = Volts (V) × 1.602176 e-19 Coulombs (C)

Relation Between Electricity and Magnetism:

A charged particle, (an electron, ion, or a proton) will creates a magnetic field if it moves or circulates. Similarly, varying magnetic field will induces electrical current within a coil (like a wired cable conductor). Researchers those examine electricity classically refer to the term “Electromagnetism” since electricity and magnetism are associated to one another.

Electricity generation:

Types of power plants for energy generation:

  • Coal-based power plants.
  • Diesel-petroleum based power plants.
  • Gas-fired Power Plant
  • Combined-cycle power plants.
  • Biomass power
  • Geothermal power plants.
  • Solar power plants.
  • Solar thermal power plants.
  • Wind Power plant
  • Nuclear power plants.
  • Hydroelectric power plants.
  • Tidal Power Plant.

Electricity production is the procedure of generating electric energy from other forms of energy. Several basic procedures are available to alter different forms of energy into electrical energy. Electricity is most frequently created in a power plant by electromagnetically conversion, chiefly driven by heating engines fueled by substance combustion or nuclear fission and other methods like the kinetic energy of sinuous tidy water or tidal energy. Various technologies could be and are utilized to create electricity, such as solar photovoltaic and released geothermal power from earth.

How is electricity is generated in power plant ?

Turbines

Most of the turbine used in electric energy production is driven by wind, steam, nuclear or river water flow using dam, or by fuel burning gasoline, petroleum, or gas like natural gas, methane, propane etc. The turbine drives a generator by a mechanical shaft, thus shifting these energies to electrical form by electromagnetic induction. There are several distinct ways of creating energy, such as wind, hydro, heat engines, and tidal power.

Heat engines drive most generations. The combustion of fossil fuels provides the majority of the energy to such machines, using a few from renewable resources and a fraction from fission. The steam turbine (devised by Sir Charles Parsons in the year of 1884) now generates about major portion approximately eighty percent of the world’s electrical energy using many different heat sources.

Water Energy or hydroelectric type is well-known by means of a water dispenser from the motion of water from variable water level at water reservoir surrounded by dam. Presently, hydroelectric plants provide roughly twenty percent of the entire world’s electricity. In tidal both the rise and fall of tides or oceanic tides thrust may have been exploited to generate energy.

Steam

The water is boiled to generate a super-heated steam by fossil fuel, primarily coal burning in most thermal power station. Around 42% of world electricity is produced this method.
In this process steam is generated by heat released Nuclear fission reaction and followed the same process like other thermal power plant. Not more than 10% of electricity is produced this method worldwide but as its generated clean energy it may become a good option in future in advanced country.
In a Renewable kind plant, steams are produced by biomass, bio-diesel, geothermal power, and solar thermal energy, etc.

Natural gas: 

In this process, turbines are rotated directly by gas generated by combustion, either steam and gas drive cycles, or maybe by combined cycle. They utilize heat to create steam and generate energy by burning natural gas. As a minimum twenty percent of the planet’s electricity is produced from this resource. This is formed by similar formation process alike fossil-fuel. The main element in natural gas is methane, composed of a C atom and 4 H2 atoms. This resource delivers around 25% planet’s energy. The drilled-well extracted gas from deep sea thru different geological layers.

Generators

Electric generators convert kinetic energy into electrical energy. This technique is the most common one to generate power and is based on popular Faraday’s law. Practically all marketable electrical production is accomplished using electromagnetic induction methodology, in this mechanical energy of steam thrust a rotor shaft to rotate. Though in the wind turbines provide electrical generation experimentally by rotating a rotor using wind flow.

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Electric generators
Gordon Kneale Brooke, Drax power station generatorCC BY-SA 2.0

Photovoltaic effect

“The photovoltaic effect is the conversion of light photon’s electromagnetic energy to electrical energy.” Photovoltaic panels convert sunlight directly to electricity in DC form. To convert this DC to AC current, power inverters might be utilized if required.

Even though the sun is completely free of cost and abundant, solar electricity is costly comparatively than routinely generated electricity by conventional means. Silicon solar cells are diminishing together with conversion efficiency in price, and multi-junction cells are available. More than 40% of effectiveness was shown in experimental methods. Lately, photovoltaic were utilized in sites where there isn’t any access to your electricity grid, or as an electricity source for houses and industries. Developments in technologies and significant improvement in efficiency, coupled with subsidies, have accelerated the installation of solar panels.

Photovoltaic power station diagram
Solar Energy image credit : pixabay free images

Electro-chemistry

Electro-chemistry is the conversion of chemical form energy into electrical energy form. Electro-chemical electricity production is crucial in mobile and mobile programs. Presently electricity comes from batteries. Primary cells, like the frequent zinc–electrons, behave as power resources straight, nevertheless secondary one like rechargeable cells or batteries are also utilized for storage instead of main systems. These systems may be utilized to extract electricity from fuels cell or from chemical compounds.

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