25-03-2011, 03:58 PM
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ELECTRICITY GENERATION
An easier way to think of electric current is to picture cars going through a Turnpike or Parkway Toll
The cars could represent electrons or charge, and the toll booth could represent the cross sectional area of the wire at a certain point.
If you counted the number of cars or electrons, that passed through the toll booth or a certain cross sectional area of the wire, and divided that number by the time it took for those cars or charges to pass,
you would get the current!
What does copper wire and magnets have to do with Electricity
In September of 1831, Michael Faraday made the discovery of Electromagnetic Induction
Faraday attached two wires to a disc and rotated the disc between the opposing poles of a horseshoe magnet creating an electric current.
Motion is Essential
If you place a magnet and a conductor (copper wire), in a room together there will be no electric current generated.
This is because motion, from our equation for electricity, is missing
An electric current is not generated unless the magnetic field is moving relative to the copper wire, or the copper wire is moving relative to the magnetic field.
Simple Electric Generator
So simple electric generators found in power plants contain, magnets and copper wire that when put into motion relative to one another create the electric current that is sent out to homes.
The major problem in electricity generation Is where does the Motion come from that keeps the
copper wire and magnets moving relative to one another.
In this case, wind power applies a force to the blades that turns them.
The spinning blades, spin an armature that turns the copper wire relative to the magnetic field. As long as the blades spin, electricity will be generated!