Electricity is a form of energy, like heat and magnetism. It is associated with the electric charges that exist inside the atom. This chapter covers electric current, potential difference, resistance, electric cells and batteries, switches and circuits, conductors and insulators, and the three main effects of electric current: heating, magnetic and chemical.
1. Electricity – A Short History
- In 1882, in New York City, Thomas Alva Edison pushed a switch and 14,000 bulbs in 9,000 houses lit up. From then the world was under the light even in the night.
- Seventeen years later, in 1899, electricity first came to India. The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited commissioned the first thermal power plant in India on 17 April 1899.
- Around the 1900s, a thermal power station was set up at Basin Bridge in Madras city.