Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1.1.2
The History of the Study of Electricity
Let us review briefly the history of plasma physics that is connected with the de-
velopment of electrical techniques and electrical science [6]. One can date the start
of the history of electric phenomena in gases to 1705, when the English scientist
Francis Hauksbee made an electrostatic generator whose power allowed him to
study luminous electric discharges in gases. In 1734, Charles Francois de Cister-
nay Dufay (France) discovered that air conducts electricity near hot bodies. In 1745,
E.J. von Kleist (Germany) and P.V. Musschenbroek (Netherlands) constructed inde-
pendently a type of electric capacitor named the Leyden jar. This made possible the
study of electric breakdown in air. In 1752, the American scientist and statesman
Benjamin Franklin created a theory of lightning on the basis of some experiments.
He considered the lightning phenomenon as a flow of electricity through air that
corresponds to contemporary understanding of this phenomenon as passage of an
electric current through air.
The nineteenth century was a period in which electric processes and phenome-
na were studied intensely [7]. At that time the technique required to create a gas
discharge was worked out and this paved the way for the subsequent development
of the electrical sciences, including plasma physics. This included the creation of
new gas discharge devices together with the development of sources of electricity
and methods of electricity diagnostics. The sources of electricity were developed
simultaneously in the creation and improvement of batteries, where electric ener-
gy resulted from chemical energy, and dynamos for transformation of mechani-
cal energy into electric energy. In 1800, A. Volta (Italy) created a battery that was
the prototype of the modern battery. It consisted of electrochemical cells joined in
series, and each cell contained zinc and copper electrodes and an electrolyte be-
tween them, firstly H 2 SO 4 .Twotypesofions,H C and SO 2 4 , are formed in this
electrolyte, and protons capture electrons from the copper electrodes, forming bub-
bles of hydrogen (H 2 ), whereas negatively charged sulfate ions react with the zinc
electrodes. This battery was improved many times and became a reliable source
of electricity, and the general concept of this device was conserved in all subse-
quent devices of this type [8]. In the same period, the fuel element was also created
(W.R. Grove, England, 1839). This generates electric energy as a result of the chem-
ical reaction of H 2 and O 2 .
On the path to the development of dynamos, J. Henry (USA) constructed an
electric motor in 1831 that worked from a battery, that is, electric energy was trans-
formed into mechanical energy, and M.H. Jacobi (Germany) showed that this dy-
namo could be used not only as a motor, but also as a generator of electricity, that
is, it converts mechanical power into electric power. In 1870, Z.T. Gramme (France)
constructed a magnetoelectric machine that was a prototype of contemporary gen-
erators of electricity in electric power plants. As a result of the creation and im-
provement of sources of electric energy, reliable equipment was made for various
applications in manufacturing and the economy.
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