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Electric utilities measure power using electricity meters, which keep a running total of the electric energy delivered to a customer. Unlike fossil fuels , electricity is a low entropy form of energy and can be converted into motion or many other forms of energy with high efficiency.
Streetcars created enormous demand for early electricity. This Siemens Tram from 1884 required 500 V direct current, which was typical. Much of early electricity was direct current, which could not easily be increased or decreased in voltage either for long-distance transmission or for sharing a common line to be used with multiple types of electric devices.
History of electricity can refer to: See Electricity § History for an overview; History of electromagnetic theory; History of electrical engineering; History of electric power transmission; History of electronic engineering
Ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus described static electricity by rubbing fur on substances such as amber. 1600: English scientist William Gilbert coined the word electricus after careful experiments. He also explained the magnetism of Earth. 1660: German scientist Otto von Guericke invented a device that creates static electricity ...
The invention of the industrial generator in 1866 by Werner von Siemens – which did not need external magnetic power – made a large series of other inventions possible. In 1873, James Clerk Maxwell published a unified treatment of electricity and magnetism in A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism which stimulated several theorists to ...
It was the first respectable claim for that law, out of which came the development of a mathematical theory of static electricity." [7] The book contains an account of the kite experiment of Benjamin Franklin, that has been taken as authoritative. Some details not found elsewhere are presumed to have been communicated by Franklin. [8]
"Electricity", then, was simply the property of behaving like an electric, in the same way that "elasticity" is the property of behaving like an elastic. [4] (" Electric" continued to be used as a noun until at least 1913 [ 5 ] and is still used in this sense in the word " dielectric ".)
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (UK: / ˈ v ɒ l t ə /, US: / ˈ v oʊ l t ə /; Italian: [alesˈsandro ˈvɔlta]; 18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827) was an Italian physicist and chemist who was a pioneer of electricity and power, [1] [2] [3] and is credited as the inventor of the electric battery and the discoverer of methane.