What is Electricity? History of Electricity

Electricity is simply the name given to a series of physical phenomena based on the flow of electron charges.

HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY

The history of electricity is the history of the use of electricity, the transformations it has undergone while coming to the present day, its effects on the development of life and technology, and the scientists who contributed to this development.

Nature works within the framework of certain rules and people try to control the world by discovering the rules of nature in order to make their lives easier by solving these rules while living in nature. Science and technology have become a great power in the hands of people. Communities that facilitate life and control the world by using technologies have gained prestige and respectability against other communities.

Although magnetism (magnetism) and electricity have been known since ancient times, the development of the use of electricity was delayed until the 16th century due to the incomplete scientific developments in mechanics and hydraulics, the difficulties encountered in the material and the fact that the interest in this subject was limited to magnetism in a very low way. The electric technology that started to develop has led to radical changes in the world. It has become a situation that will completely change human life.

The origin of the word electricity comes from ancient Greek. The word electron, which means amber in ancient Greek, has found use as the word electria, which means amber power in the new Latin.

In 1600, the word electricus was used by William Gilbert, the first scientist to analyse the concept of electricity. In 1753, Franklin determined and named that lightning is an electrical filling and consists of plus and minus charges with the kite experiment.

In the mid-18th century, it was revealed that objects were charged with plus or minus charges due to reasons such as friction and electrification and that there were relationships between charges.

It was first used as electricity by the English writer Sir Thomas Browne in his work Pseudodoxia Epidemica published in 1646. The word, which later passed into English and French, was introduced into our language as electricity. The word electricity is the same in all world languages.

EARLY ELECTRIC HISTORY

The history of electricity begins with the concept of electrostatics. With this concept, it can be defined as the acquisition of electric charge by objects. The Greek philosopher Thales, who lived in 600 BC, rubbed an amber stick on a cloth and saw that the stick attracted pieces of straw. He realised that when rubbed for a long time, it produced small sparks when brought close to the human body and made some researches. What Tales analysed was today's static electricity and the first mention of static electricity in human history coincides with the ancient Greek period when Tales lived.

The next mention of electricity in ancient history records is 300 years after Thales of Miletus. Theophrastus had seen and recorded that a transparent stone called lyncurium, which is thought to be tourmaline today, attracted small masses to itself.

Pliny mentioned a fish called torpedo, which produced a shock effect on contact, but it was not realised that this effect was the same as that of amber or tourmaline. The first use of electricity for medical purposes dates back to the 5th century.

MEDIEVAL ELECTRICAL HISTORY

Science had declined in Europe in the Middle Ages. The history of science entered the dark age due to reasons such as the long duration of wars, the increase in the influence of religion in the administration, and the fear that science would be perceived as opposing religion. The stagnation seen in every branch of science in the Middle Ages also affected electricity. The only innovation in this era was the explanation of the similarities and differences between electricity and magnetism. Magnetism has a longer history than electricity. Around 900 BC, a shepherd discovered that a different type of stone attracted iron. Since the power of the magnet, as it is called today, was similar to the pulling power of amber, it was often confused with electricity and magnetism in ancient times.

In the 2nd century, the Chinese discovered that when the magnet was made into a strip and left to rotate freely, it remained fixed in the north-south direction. Thanks to this direction-finding ability of the magnet, the Chinese invented the magnetic compass. Magnetism and these compasses were first mentioned in Europe in 1180 by Alexader Neckam, who mentioned magnetism and these compasses. With this development, the problem of navigation in maritime navigation was solved.

With the arrival of the magnetic compass in Europe, research on this subject began. French military engineer Petrus Peregnirus wrote a letter about the magnet in 1269. In this letter, he mentioned how to determine the north-south poles of the magnet, since the same poles of the magnetic poles repel each other and different poles attract each other.

NEW AGE ELECTRICITY HISTORY

With the invention of the printing press in Europe, information spread more quickly and the speed of technological developments increased. The Renaissance was the most detailed book written in the field of magnetism. In this work, William Gilbert, inspired by the earth sphere, turned a large piece of magnet into a sphere and revealed that the Earth is a large magnet. With this experiment, he found the magnetic poles of the sphere and explained why compasses are orientated to the north. Gilbert found that the attraction of amber is different from electrostatic attraction and magnetic attraction.

In 1672, Ottovon Guericke built a device that rotates a sulphur sphere. He produced a spark by holding a piece of wool to the rotating sphere. This device is the first generator to generate electricity through friction.

In 1729, English Stephen Gray discovered that metals are conductors and nonmetals are insulators.

In 1733, French chemist Charles François Du Cisternay found that there are two types of electric charge.

In 1745, Dutchman Peter Van Musschenbroek constructed the Leyden flask, a metal rod immersed in a glass jar filled with water, capable of storing electricity. This is considered to be the first capacitor in history.

In 1746, Benjamin Franklin discovered the plus and minus ends of electric charges and introduced the principle of conservation of electricity.

In 1752, Benjamin Franklin flew a kite in thunderous weather and filled the Leyden bottle from the cloud charged with a silk rope. He established a connection between lightning and electricity. This experiment helped to find the lightning rod.

In 1759 Franz Maria Aepinus built a parallel plate capacitor.

In 1777, the French physicist Coloumb built a torsional weighing device that could measure the repulsive or attractive force between two charged metal spheres or magnet poles.

In 1785, Charles Augustin de Coulomb experimentally demonstrated that the repulsive or attractive force between two charges is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them (Coulomb's Law).

In 1794, the Italian scientist Alessandro Volta invented the electric battery. He obtained electric current by placing salt-mixed liquid between zinc and silver plates. Thus, a practical current source was obtained. After this invention, it was understood that electric current and static electricity are different views of the same phenomenon.

In 1800, Volta's design was improved and the first commercial batteries were produced. With the battery used today by using different tools

In 1796, John Frederick Daniell laid the foundation of today's batteries by using different tools in electrode construction.

In 1800, Volta's design was improved and the first commercial batteries were produced.

In 1807, potassium metal was separated by passing an electric current through an electrolyte of molten potash. Subsequent research developed the electroplating, electrolytic refining and electrochemistry industries.

In 1808 it was demonstrated that electric current could be converted into light or heat energy.

In 1819, Hans Christian Oersted concluded that when current is passed through a wire, the electric current creates a magnetic field around the wire.

In 1819, French mathematician and physicist Andre Marie Ampère formulated the relation between the magnetic field and the electric current that generates this field, called Ampère's Law, which describes Oersted's phenomenon.

In 1827, the German physicist George Simon Ohm studied the electric current flowing through conductors and proposed the law known as Ohm's Law.

In 1829, Joseph Henry, an American of Scottish descent, succeeded in lifting more than a tonne of metal by creating a strong magnetic field with a coil made by winding wire around an iron core.

In 1831, British physicist and chemist Michael Faraday produced electricity by rotating a copper plate in a magnetic field created by a magnet with a steam engine. This is the first generator. In the same year, Joseph Henry reversed Faraday's invention and succeeded in rotating a copper circle by passing an electric current through the magnetic field. This is an electric motor, and for the first time in history, electrical energy powers machines and enables work to be done.

1876: Alexander Graham Bell of the USA invented and patented the telephone by converting electrical vibrations into sound.

In 1879, Edison invented the incandescent lamp and introduced the basis of the diode lamp.

In 1881, the first electricity generation and distribution network was established in New-York.

1882: The first hydroelectric power plant was opened in Wisconsin.

1887: Serbian-born physicist, electrical and mechanical engineer Nikola Tesla invented the alternating current generator. Thus, electrical energy could be easily transmitted over long distances.

1888: Heinrich Hertz discovered and measured radio waves mentioned by Faraday and Maxwell years earlier.

In 1895, Thomson introduced the concept of electron. After that, the development of electronics as a separate branch of science began.

In 1907, triode lamp was found.

The discovery of the iconoscope lamp in 1923 enabled the development of TV and the discovery of the transistor in 1947 enabled the development of computer technology. In 1958, the first integrated circuit was built. In 1970, many circuit elements were collected on a chip and electronic circuits were made. In 1971, the first microprocessor was invented.

In 1948, the transistor was invented, paving the way for computer technology.

In 1958, the first integrated circuit was developed.

In 1971, the first microprocessor was built.

In 2000, the first power plant to generate energy by utilising the motion of the sea wave was commissioned in Scotland.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRICITY IN TURKEY

In 1902, electricity was generated and used in a hydroelectric power plant established in Tarsus during the reign of Abdülhamit II.

In 1914, the Silahtarağa thermal power plant was opened and operated until 1983.

In 1948, Çatalağzı Thermal Power Plant in Zonguldak started to generate electricity and in 1952, electricity was supplied to Istanbul with a 154 kV power transmission line.