It is impossible to imagine our civilization without electricity: economic
and social progress will be turned to the past and our daily lives completely
transformed.
Electrical power has become universal. Thousands of applications of
electricity such as lighting, electrochemistry and electrometallurgy are
longstanding and unquestionable.
With the appearance of the electrical motor, power cables replaced trans-
mission shafts, gear wheels, belts and pulleys
1
in the 19-th century workshops.
And in the home a whole range of various time and labour saving appliances
2
have become a part of our everyday lives.
Other devices are based on specific properties of electricity: electrostatics
in the case of photocopying machine and electromagnetism in the case of radar
and television. These applications have made electricity most widely used.
The first industrial application was in the silver workshops in Paris. The
generator – a new compact source of electricity – was also developed there. The
generator replaced the batteries and other devices that had been used before.
Electric lighting came into wide use at the end of the last century with the
development of the electric lamp by Thomas Edison. Then the transformer was
invented, the first electric lines and networks were set up, dynamos and
induction motors
3
were designed.
Since the beginning of the 20-th century the successful development of
electricity has begun throughout the industrial world. The consumption of
electricity has doubled every ten years.
Today consumption of electricity per capita
4
is an indicator of the state of
development and economic health of a nation. Electricity has replaced other
sources of energy as it has been realized that it offers improved service and
reduced cost.
One of the greatest advantages of electricity is that it is clean, easily-
regulated and generates no by-products
5
. Applications of electricity now cover
all fields of human activity from house washing machines to the latest laser
devices. Electricity is the efficient source of some of the most recent technolo-
5
gical advances such as the laser and electron beams. Truly
6
electricity provides
mankind with the energy of the future.