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Selsyn (synchro) motors
2008-01-09 22:28:00
Normally, the rotor windings of a wound rotor induction motor are shorted out after starting. During starting, resistance may be placed in series with the rotor windings to limit starting current. If these windings are connected to a common starting resistance, the two rotors will remain synchronized during starting. (Figure below) This is usefull for printing presses and draw bridges, where two motors need to be synchronized during starting. Once started, and the rotors are shorted, the synchronizing torque is absent. The higher the resistance during starting, the higher the synchronizing torque for a pair of motors. If the starting resistors are removed, but the rotors still paralleled, there is no starting torque. However there is a substantial synchronizing torque. This is a selsyn, which is an abbreviation for ?self synchronous?. Starting wound rotor induction motors from common resistors. The rotors may be stationary. If one rotor is moved through an angle ?, t...
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Other specialized motors
2008-01-09 22:28:00
Shaded pole induction motor An easy way to provide starting torque to a single phase motor is to embed a shorted turn in each pole at 30o to 60o to the main winding. (Figure below) Typically 1/3 of the pole is enclosed by a bare copper strap. These shading coils produce a time lagging damped flux spaced 30o to 60o from the main field. This lagging flux with the undamped main component, produces a rotating field with a small torque to start the rotor. Shaded pole induction motor, (a) dual coil design, (b) smaller single coil version. Starting torque is so low that shaded pole motors are only manufactured in smaller sizes, below 50 watts. Low cost and simplicity suit this motor to small fans, air circulators, and other low torque applications. Motor speed can be lowered by switching reactance in series to limit current and torque, or by switching motor coil taps as in Figure below. Speed control of shaded pole motor. 2-phase servo motor A ...
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Wound rotor induction motors
2008-01-09 22:27:00
A wound rotor induction motor has a stator like the squirrel cage induction motor, but a rotor with insulated windings brought out via slip rings and brushes. However, no power is applied to the slip rings. Their sole purpose is to allow resistance to be placed in series with the rotor windings while starting. (Figure below) This resistance is shorted out once the motor is started to make the rotor look electrically like the squirrel cage counterpart. Wound rotor induction motor. Why put resistance in series with the rotor? Squirrel cage induction motors draw 500% to over 1000% of full load current (FLC) during starting. While this is not a severe problem for small motors, it is for large (10's of kW) motors. Placing resistance in series with the rotor windings not only decreases start current, locked rotor current (LRC), but also increases the starting torque, locked rotor torque (LRT). Figure below shows that by increasing the rotor resistance from R0 to R1 to ...
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Single-phase induction motors
2008-01-09 22:27:00
A three phase motor may be run from a single phase power source. (Figure below) However, it will not self-start. It may be hand started in either direction, coming up to speed in a few seconds. It will only develop 2/3 of the 3-? power rating because one winding is not used. 3-?motor runs from 1-? power, but does not start. The single coil of a single phase induction motor does not produce a rotating magnetic field, but a pulsating field reaching maximum intensity at 0o and 180o electrical. (Figure ) Single phase stator produces a nonrotating, pulsating magnetic field. Another view is that the single coil excited by a single phase current produces two counter rotating magnetic field phasors, coinciding twice per revolution at 0o (Figure above-a) and 180o (figure e). When the phasors rotate to 90o and -90o they cancel in figure b. At 45o and -45o (figure c) they are partially additive along the +x axis and cancel along the y axis. An analogous situ...
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Tesla polyphase induction motors
2008-01-09 22:26:00
Most AC motors are induction motors. Induction motors are favored due to their ruggedness and simplicity. In fact, 90% of industrial motors are induction motors. Nikola Tesla conceived the basic principals of the polyphase induction motor in 1883, and had a half horsepower (400 watt) model by 1888. Tesla sold the manufacturing rights to George Westinghouse for $65,000. Most large ( > 1 hp or 1 kW) industrial motors are poly-phase induction motors. By poly-phase, we mean that the stator contains multiple distinct windings per motor pole, driven by corresponding time shifted sine waves. In practice, this is two or three phases. Large industrial motors are 3-phase. While we include numerous illustrations of two-phase motors for simplicity, we must emphasize that nearly all poly-phase motors are three-phase. By induction motor, we mean that the stator windings induce a current flow in the rotor conductors, like a transformer, unlike a brushed DC commutator motor. Construct...
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Brushless DC motor
2008-01-09 22:25:00
Brushless DC motors were developed from conventional brushed DC motors with the availability of solid state power semiconductors. So, why do we discuss brushless DC motors in a chapter on AC motors? Brushless DC motors are similar to AC synchronous motors. The major difference is that synchronous motors develop a sinusoidal back EMF, as compared to a rectangular, or trapezoidal, back EMF for brushless DC motors. Both have stator created rotating magnetic fields producing torque in a magnetic rotor. Synchronous motors are usually large multi-kilowatt size, often with electromagnet rotors. True synchronous motors are considered to be single speed, a submultiple of the powerline frequency. Brushless DC motors tend to be small-- a few watts to tens of watts, with permanent magnet rotors. The speed of a brushless DC motor is not fixed unless driven by a phased locked loop slaved to a reference frequency. The style of construction is either cylindrical or pancake. (Figures and b...
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Stepper motors
2008-01-09 22:24:00
A stepper motor is a ?digital? version of the electric motor. The rotor moves in discrete steps as commanded, rather than rotating continuously like a conventional motor. When stopped but energized, a stepper (short for stepper motor) holds its load steady with a holding torque. Wide spread acceptance of the stepper motor within the last two decades was driven by the ascendancy of digital electronics. Modern solid state driver electronics was a key to its success. And, microprocessors readily interface to stepper motor driver circuits. Application wise, the predecessor of the stepper motor was the servo motor. Today this is a higher cost solution to high performance motion control applications. The expense and complexity of a servomotor is due to the additional system components: position sensor and error amplifier. (Figure below) It is still the way to position heavy loads beyond the grasp of lower power steppers. High acceleration or unusually high accuracy still requires a se...
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Reluctance motor
2008-01-09 22:23:00
The variable reluctance motor is based on the principle that an unrestrained piece of iron will move to complete a magnetic flux path with minimum reluctance, the magnetic analog of electrical resistance. (Figure below) Synchronous reluctance If the rotating field of a large synchronous motor with salient poles is de-energized, it will still develop 10 or 15% of synchronous torque. This is due to variable reluctance throughout a rotor revolution. There is no practical application for a large synchronous reluctance motor. However, it is practical in small sizes. If slots are cut into the conductorless rotor of an induction motor, corresponding to the stator slots, a synchronous reluctance motor results. It starts like an induction motor but runs with a small amount of synchronous torque. The synchronous torque is due to changes in reluctance of the magnetic path from the stator through the rotor as the slots align. This motor is an inexpensive means of developing a mode...
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Synchronous Motors
2008-01-09 22:22:00
Single phase synchronous motors are available in small sizes for applications requiring precise timing such as time keeping, (clocks) and tape players. Though battery powered quartz regulated clocks are widely available, the AC line operated variety has better long term accuracy-- over a period of months. This is due to power plant operators purposely maintaining the long term accuracy of the frequency of the AC distribution system. If it falls behind by a few cycles, they will make up the lost cycles of AC so that clocks lose no time. Above 10 Horsepower (10 kW) the higher efficiency and leading powerfactor make large synchronous motors useful in industry. Large synchronous motors are a few percent more efficient than the more common induction motors. Though, the synchronous motor is more complex. Since motors and generators are similar in construction, it should be possible to use a generator as a motor, conversely, use a motor as a generator. A synchronous motor is similar t...
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Synchronous condenser
2008-01-09 22:22:00
Synchronous motors load the power line with a leading power factor. This is often usefull in cancelling out the more commonly encountered lagging power factor caused by induction motors and other inductive loads. Originally, large industrial synchronous motors came into wide use because of this ability to correct the lagging power factor of induction motors. This leading power factor can be exaggerated by removing the mechanical load and over exciting the field of the synchronous motor. Such a device is known as a synchronous condenser. Furthermore, the leading power factor can be adjusted by varying the field excitation. This makes it possible to nearly cancel an arbitrary lagging power factor to unity by paralleling the lagging load with a synchronous motor. A synchronous condenser is operated in a borderline condition between a motor and a generator with no mechanical load to fulfill this function. It can compensate either a leading or lagging power factor, by absorbing or sup...
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Introduction to AC MOTORS
2008-01-09 22:21:00
After the introduction of the DC electrical distribution system by Edison in the United States, a gradual transition to the more economical AC system commenced. Lighting worked as well on AC as on DC. Transmission of electrical energy covered longer distances at lower loss with alternating current. However, motors were a problem with alternating current. Initially, AC motors were constructed like DC motors. Numerous problems were encountered due to changing magnetic fields, as compared to the static fields in DC motor motor field coils. Charles P. Steinmetz contributed to solving these problems with his investigation of hysteresis losses in iron armatures. Nikola Tesla envisioned an entirely new type of motor when he visualized a spinning turbine, not spun by water or steam, but by a rotating magnetic field. His new type of motor, the AC induction motor, is the workhorse of industry to this day. Its ruggedness and simplicity (Figure : squirrel cage above) make for long l...
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AC instrumentation transducers
2008-01-09 22:20:00
Just as devices have been made to measure certain physical quantities and repeat that information in the form of DC electrical signals (thermocouples, strain gauges, pH probes, etc.), special devices have been made that do the same with AC. It is often necessary to be able to detect and transmit the physical position of mechanical parts via electrical signals. This is especially true in the fields of automated machine tool control and robotics. A simple and easy way to do this is with a potentiometer: (Figure below) Potentiometer tap voltage indicates position of an object slaved to the shaft. However, potentiometers have their own unique problems. For one, they rely on physical contact between the ?wiper? and the resistance strip, which means they suffer the effects of physical wear over time. As potentiometers wear, their proportional output versus shaft position becomes less and less certain. You might have already experienced this effect when adjusting the ...
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AC bridge circuits
2008-01-09 22:19:00
As we saw with DC measurement circuits, the circuit configuration known as a bridge can be a very useful way to measure unknown values of resistance. This is true with AC as well, and we can apply the very same principle to the accurate measurement of unknown impedances. To review, the bridge circuit works as a pair of two-component voltage dividers connected across the same source voltage, with a null-detector meter movement connected between them to indicate a condition of ?balance? at zero volts: (Figure below) A balanced bridge shows a ?null?, or minimum reading, on the indicator. Any one of the four resistors in the above bridge can be the resistor of unknown value, and its value can be determined by a ratio of the other three, which are ?calibrated,? or whose resistances are known to a precise degree. When the bridge is in a balanced condition (zero voltage as indicated by the null detector), the ratio works out to be this: One of the advantages ...
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Power quality measurement
2008-01-09 22:18:00
It used to be with large AC power systems that ?power quality? was an unheard-of concept, aside from power factor. Almost all loads were of the ?linear? variety, meaning that they did not distort the shape of the voltage sine wave, or cause non-sinusoidal currents to flow in the circuit. This is not true anymore. Loads controlled by ?nonlinear? electronic components are becoming more prevalent in both home and industry, meaning that the voltages and currents in the power system(s) feeding these loads are rich in harmonics: what should be nice, clean sine-wave voltages and currents are becoming highly distorted, which is equivalent to the presence of an infinite series of high-frequency sine waves at multiples of the fundamental power line frequency. Excessive harmonics in an AC power system can overheat transformers, cause exceedingly high neutral conductor currents in three-phase systems, create electromagnetic ?noise? in the form of radio emissions that can interfere with sensit...
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Power measurement
2008-01-09 22:18:00
Power measurement in AC circuits can be quite a bit more complex than with DC circuits for the simple reason that phase shift complicates the matter beyond multiplying voltage by current figures obtained with meters. What is needed is an instrument able to determine the product (multiplication) of instantaneous voltage and current. Fortunately, the common electrodynamometer movement with its stationary and moving coil does a fine job of this. Three phase power measurement can be accomplished using two dynamometer movements with a common shaft linking the two moving coils together so that a single pointer registers power on a meter movement scale. This, obviously, makes for a rather expensive and complex movement mechanism, but it is a workable solution. An ingenious method of deriving an electronic power meter (one that generates an electric signal representing power in the system rather than merely move a pointer) is based on the Hall effect. The Hall effect is an unusual eff...
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Frequency and phase measurement
2008-01-09 22:17:00
An important electrical quantity with no equivalent in DC circuits is frequency. Frequency measurement is very important in many applications of alternating current, especially in AC power systems designed to run efficiently at one frequency and one frequency only. If the AC is being generated by an electromechanical alternator, the frequency will be directly proportional to the shaft speed of the machine, and frequency could be measured simply by measuring the speed of the shaft. If frequency needs to be measured at some distance from the alternator, though, other means of measurement will be necessary. One simple but crude method of frequency measurement in power systems utilizes the principle of mechanical resonance. Every physical object possessing the property of elasticity (springiness) has an inherent frequency at which it will prefer to vibrate. The tuning fork is a great example of this: strike it once and it will continue to vibrate at a tone specific to its length. Lo...
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Computer simulation of electric circuits
2008-01-09 18:35:00
Computers can be powerful tools if used properly, especially in the realms of science and engineering. Software exists for the simulation of electric circuits by computer, and these programs can be very useful in helping circuit designers test ideas before actually building real circuits, saving much time and money. These same programs can be fantastic aids to the beginning student of electronics, allowing the exploration of ideas quickly and easily with no assembly of real circuits required. Of course, there is no substitute for actually building and testing real circuits, but computer simulations certainly assist in the learning process by allowing the student to experiment with changes and see the effects they have on circuits. Throughout this book, I'll be incorporating computer printouts from circuit simulation frequently in order to illustrate important concepts. By observing the results of a computer simulation, a student can gain an intuitive grasp of circuit behavior wit...
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Polarity of voltage drops
2008-01-09 18:34:00
We can trace the direction that electrons will flow in the same circuit by starting at the negative (-) terminal and following through to the positive (+) terminal of the battery, the only source of voltage in the circuit. From this we can see that the electrons are moving counter-clockwise, from point 6 to 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 and back to 6 again. As the current encounters the 5 ? resistance, voltage is dropped across the resistor's ends. The polarity of this voltage drop is negative (-) at point 4 with respect to positive (+) at point 3. We can mark the polarity of the resistor's voltage drop with these negative and positive symbols, in accordance with the direction of current (whichever end of the resistor the current is entering is negative with respect to the end of the resistor it is exiting: We could make our table of voltages a little more complete by marking the polarity of the voltage for each pair of points in this circuit: Between points 1 (+) and 4 (-) =...
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Circuit wiring
2008-01-09 18:33:00
So far, we've been analyzing single-battery, single-resistor circuits with no regard for the connecting wires between the components, so long as a complete circuit is formed. Does the wire length or circuit "shape" matter to our calculations? Let's look at a couple of circuit configurations and find out: When we draw wires connecting points in a circuit, we usually assume those wires have negligible resistance. As such, they contribute no appreciable effect to the overall resistance of the circuit, and so the only resistance we have to contend with is the resistance in the components. In the above circuits, the only resistance comes from the 5 ? resistors, so that is all we will consider in our calculations. In real life, metal wires actually do have resistance (and so do power sources!), but those resistances are generally so much smaller than the resistance present in the other circuit components that they can be safely ignored. Exceptions to this rule exist in power syste...
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Nonlinear conduction
2008-01-09 18:32:00
"Advances are made by answering questions. Discoveries are made by questioning answers." Bernhard Haisch, Astrophysicist Ohm's Law is a simple and powerful mathematical tool for helping us analyze electric circuits, but it has limitations, and we must understand these limitations in order to properly apply it to real circuits. For most conductors, resistance is a rather stable property, largely unaffected by voltage or current. For this reason we can regard the resistance of many circuit components as a constant, with voltage and current being directly related to each other. For instance, our previous circuit example with the 3 ? lamp, we calculated current through the circuit by dividing voltage by resistance (I=E/R). With an 18 volt battery, our circuit current was 6 amps. Doubling the battery voltage to 36 volts resulted in a doubled current of 12 amps. All of this makes sense, of course, so long as the lamp continues to provide exactly the same amount of friction (re...

Resistors
2008-01-09 18:31:00
Because the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance in any circuit is so regular, we can reliably control any variable in a circuit simply by controlling the other two. Perhaps the easiest variable in any circuit to control is its resistance. This can be done by changing the material, size, and shape of its conductive components (remember how the thin metal filament of a lamp created more electrical resistance than a thick wire?). Special components called resistors are made for the express purpose of creating a precise quantity of resistance for insertion into a circuit. They are typically constructed of metal wire or carbon, and engineered to maintain a stable resistance value over a wide range of environmental conditions. Unlike lamps, they do not produce light, but they do produce heat as electric power is dissipated by them in a working circuit. Typically, though, the purpose of a resistor is not to produce usable heat, but simply to provide a precise quantity ...

Calculating electric power
2008-01-09 18:30:00
We've seen the formula for determining the power in an electric circuit: by multiplying the voltage in "volts" by the current in "amps" we arrive at an answer in "watts." Let's apply this to a circuit example: In the above circuit, we know we have a battery voltage of 18 volts and a lamp resistance of 3 ?. Using Ohm's Law to determine current, we get: Now that we know the current, we can take that value and multiply it by the voltage to determine power: Answer: the lamp is dissipating (releasing) 108 watts of power, most likely in the form of both light and heat. Let's try taking that same circuit and increasing the battery voltage to see what happens. Intuition should tell us that the circuit current will increase as the voltage increases and the lamp resistance stays the same. Likewise, the power will increase as well: Now, the battery voltage is 36 volts instead of 18 volts. The lamp is still providing 3 ? of electrical resistance to the flow of e...
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Power in electric circuits
2008-01-09 18:30:00
In addition to voltage and current, there is another measure of free electron activity in a circuit: power. First, we need to understand just what power is before we analyze it in any circuits. Power is a measure of how much work can be performed in a given amount of time. Work is generally defined in terms of the lifting of a weight against the pull of gravity. The heavier the weight and/or the higher it is lifted, the more work has been done. Power is a measure of how rapidly a standard amount of work is done. For American automobiles, engine power is rated in a unit called "horsepower," invented initially as a way for steam engine manufacturers to quantify the working ability of their machines in terms of the most common power source of their day: horses. One horsepower is defined in British units as 550 ft-lbs of work per second of time. The power of a car's engine won't indicate how tall of a hill it can climb or how much weight it can tow, but it will indicate how...
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An analogy for Ohm's Law
2008-01-09 18:29:00
Ohm's Law also makes intuitive sense if you apply it to the water-and-pipe analogy. If we have a water pump that exerts pressure (voltage) to push water around a "circuit" (current) through a restriction (resistance), we can model how the three variables interrelate. If the resistance to water flow stays the same and the pump pressure increases, the flow rate must also increase. If the pressure stays the same and the resistance increases (making it more difficult for the water to flow), then the flow rate must decrease: If the flow rate were to stay the same while the resistance to flow decreased, the required pressure from the pump would necessarily decrease: As odd as it may seem, the actual mathematical relationship between pressure, flow, and resistance is actually more complex for fluids like water than it is for electrons. If you pursue further studies in physics, you will discover this for yourself. Thankfully for the electronics student, the mathematics ...
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How voltage, current, and resistance relate
2008-01-09 18:28:00
An electric circuit is formed when a conductive path is created to allow free electrons to continuously move. This continuous movement of free electrons through the conductors of a circuit is called a current, and it is often referred to in terms of "flow," just like the flow of a liquid through a hollow pipe. The force motivating electrons to "flow" in a circuit is called voltage. Voltage is a specific measure of potential energy that is always relative between two points. When we speak of a certain amount of voltage being present in a circuit, we are referring to the measurement of how much potential energy exists to move electrons from one particular point in that circuit to another particular point. Without reference to two particular points, the term "voltage" has no meaning. Free electrons tend to move through conductors with some degree of friction, or opposition to motion. This opposition to motion is more properly called resistance. The amount of current in a c...
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Contributors
2008-01-09 18:27:00
Contributors to this chapter are listed in chronological order of their contributions, from most recent to first. See Appendix 2 (Contributor List) for dates and contact information. Bill Heath (September 2002): Pointed out error in illustration of carbon atom -- the nucleus was shown with seven protons instead of six. Stefan Kluehspies (June 2003): Corrected spelling error in Andrew Tannenbaum's name. Ben Crowell, Ph.D. (January 13, 2001): suggestions on improving the technical accuracy of voltage and charge definitions. Jason Starck (June 2000): HTML document formatting, which led to a much better-looking second edition.

Conventional versus electron flow
2008-01-09 18:26:00
When Benjamin Franklin made his conjecture regarding the direction of charge flow (from the smooth wax to the rough wool), he set a precedent for electrical notation that exists to this day, despite the fact that we know electrons are the constituent units of charge, and that they are displaced from the wool to the wax -- not from the wax to the wool -- when those two substances are rubbed together. This is why electrons are said to have a negative charge: because Franklin assumed electric charge moved in the opposite direction that it actually does, and so objects he called "negative" (representing a deficiency of charge) actually have a surplus of electrons. By the time the true direction of electron flow was discovered, the nomenclature of "positive" and "negative" had already been so well established in the scientific community that no effort was made to change it, although calling electrons "positive" would make more sense in referring to "excess" charge. You see, the terms "...
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Voltage and current in a practical circuit
2008-01-09 18:25:00
Because it takes energy to force electrons to flow against the opposition of a resistance, there will be voltage manifested (or "dropped") between any points in a circuit with resistance between them. It is important to note that although the amount of current (the quantity of electrons moving past a given point every second) is uniform in a simple circuit, the amount of voltage (potential energy per unit charge) between different sets of points in a single circuit may vary considerably: Take this circuit as an example. If we label four points in this circuit with the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4, we will find that the amount of current conducted through the wire between points 1 and 2 is exactly the same as the amount of current conducted through the lamp (between points 2 and 3). This same quantity of current passes through the wire between points 3 and 4, and through the battery (between points 1 and 4). However, we will find the voltage appearing between any two of these point...
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Resistance
2008-01-09 18:24:00
The circuit in the previous section is not a very practical one. In fact, it can be quite dangerous to build (directly connecting the poles of a voltage source together with a single piece of wire). The reason it is dangerous is because the magnitude of electric current may be very large in such a short circuit, and the release of energy very dramatic (usually in the form of heat). Usually, electric circuits are constructed in such a way as to make practical use of that released energy, in as safe a manner as possible. One practical and popular use of electric current is for the operation of electric lighting. The simplest form of electric lamp is a tiny metal "filament" inside of a clear glass bulb, which glows white-hot ("incandesces") with heat energy when sufficient electric current passes through it. Like the battery, it has two conductive connection points, one for electrons to enter and the other for electrons to exit. Connected to a source of voltage, an electric lamp c...
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Voltage and current
2008-01-09 18:23:00
As was previously mentioned, we need more than just a continuous path (circuit) before a continuous flow of electrons will occur: we also need some means to push these electrons around the circuit. Just like marbles in a tube or water in a pipe, it takes some kind of influencing force to initiate flow. With electrons, this force is the same force at work in static electricity: the force produced by an imbalance of electric charge. If we take the examples of wax and wool which have been rubbed together, we find that the surplus of electrons in the wax (negative charge) and the deficit of electrons in the wool (positive charge) creates an imbalance of charge between them. This imbalance manifests itself as an attractive force between the two objects: If a conductive wire is placed between the charged wax and wool, electrons will flow through it, as some of the excess electrons in the wax rush through the wire to get back to the wool, filling the deficiency of electrons there: ...
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