How Power Plants Generate Current Electricity: Part I

Current electricity is the flow of electrons through wire. However, current electricity is the only form of energy that does not exist in nature. Therefore, generating current electricity in power plants required a new type of invention - a machine that could push electrons in copper atoms through copper wire! A machine that could produce, "voltage"!!!!

Alessandro Volta Invents the First Voltage Supply Device

In 1795, the Italian scientist Alessandro Volta invented a device that used a chemical reaction between metals to create a flow of electrons through a wire. Volta called his invention the "Voltaic Pile"; the force that pushes the electrons we now call, "voltage".

Volta's invention was the world's first battery - the first device to generate current electricity! We use modern batteries to power low voltage devices like flashlights and cell phones but even the strongest batteries do not produce nearly enough voltage to be used in power plants.

The Discovery of Electro-Magnetism

In 1820 the Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted accidentally discovered the phenomena called "electro-magnetism" when a wire carrying electric current from a battery caused a nearby compass needle to move! Yes! Current electricity flowing through a wire produced a magnetic field. It literally turned the wire into a magnet! A few years later William Sturgeon used this discovery to create a powerful electro-magnet that could be turned on and off with the flick of a switch. Oersted's discovery of electro-magnetism was the crucial first step on the way to electrifying the world.

The Invention That Changed the World

Michael Faraday was a famous English scientist who soon learned about Oersted's discovery. He became convinced that, because current electricity produced magnetism - that magnetism should, in turn, be able to produce current electricity. In 1832, after may years of trial and error testing, Michael Faraday finally succeeded.

His new machine required two materials: copper metal and a magnet. The key to making his invention work was to rotate (spin) the copper within the magnetic field of a stationary magnet. Faraday accomplished this with a hand crank attached to a copper disc and wires placed between the two poles of a horseshoe magnet. He was able to register the flow of electrons (current electricity) produced by his new machine using a meter. Faraday named his invention the "Dynamo" but today we call it by a more descriptive name: the Generator.

Modern generators in power plants now use large coils of copper wire and powerful magnets to create the super-high voltages required to light up and power our cities and towns and our factories. Most of the wires on your local utility poles connect the generators in power plants to your house or apartment. Yes, all of the electrical appliances you use are powered by Faraday generators in a power plant located many miles away.

Understanding how power plants work now requires learning how we produce the forces strong enough to spin these enormous, industrial sized generators. Unlike Faraday's original "Dynamo", hand cranks simply won't do!

To be continued . . .