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In other media, any stream of charged objects (ions, for example) may constitute an electric current. To provide a definition of current independent of the type of charge carriers, conventional current is defined as moving in the same direction as the positive charge flow. So, in metals where the charge carriers (electrons) are negative ...
The electric field was formally defined as the force exerted per unit charge, but the concept of potential allows for a more useful and equivalent definition: the electric field is the local gradient of the electric potential. Usually expressed in volts per metre, the vector direction of the field is the line of greatest slope of potential, and ...
The first half of the 700-page book is a history of the study of electricity. It is parted into ten periods, starting with early experiments "prior to those of Mr. Hawkesbee", finishing with variable experiments and discoveries made after Franklin's own experiments.
A voltage across a conductor causes an electric field, which accelerates the electrons in the direction of the electric field, causing a drift of electrons which is the electric current. However the electrons collide with atoms which causes them to scatter and randomizes their motion, thus converting kinetic energy to heat ( thermal energy ).
Galvanism is a term invented by the late 18th-century physicist and chemist Alessandro Volta to refer to the generation of electric current by chemical action. [2] The term also came to refer to the discoveries of its namesake, Luigi Galvani , specifically the generation of electric current within biological organisms and the contraction ...
Electric utilities measure energy using an electricity meter, which keeps a running total of the electrical energy delivered to a customer. Electric heating is an example of converting electrical energy into thermal energy. The simplest and most common type of electric heater uses electrical resistance to convert the energy. There are other ...
The electric potential is the same everywhere inside the conductor and is constant across the surface of the conductor. This follows from the first statement because the field is zero everywhere inside the conductor and therefore the potential is constant within the conductor too. The electric field is perpendicular to the surface of a conductor.
The book is notable for the extremely high number of detailed illustrations it contains, and the small softbound size of the volumes. The book was published by Theodore Audel & Company, and the majority of the illustrative content became the basis of decades of follow-up books published under the Audels brand name. The illustrative content of ...