Certified Radio-Trician's Course(REG. U. S. PAT. OFF.)
NATIONAL RADIO INSTITUTE
WASHINGTON, D. C.
GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY
The term “generation of electricity” is, in a way, misleading. Electricity is a form of energy -- electrical energy -- and therefore cannot be created or produced by man. In other words, electrical energy cannot be generated without the expenditure of some other kind of energy. Of course, we continually talk about batteries and generators producing electricity. This is convenient, but you must know the truth back of this convenient statement, and that is, that a cell, battery or generator does not produce electricity. They are merely devices used for converting some other form of energy into electrical energy. A cell or battery is a device which transforms chemical energy into electrical energy, a generator is a machine whereby mechanical energy can be transformed into electrical energy.
STATIC AND DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY
Electricity is found in two forms; in one it exists as a charge upon a body, and is known as static electricity, while in the other form it consists of a moving current along a wire, known as dynamic electricity. We therefore have: Electrostatic electricity, that branch of the science which treats with electricity at rest.
Electrodynamic electricity, that branch of the science which treats with electricity in motion.
ELECTROSTATIC CHARGES
Electrostatic charges, or electric charges as they are often called, may be produced by rubbing briskly together a glass rod with a piece of silk, or by rubbing a stick of sealing wax with silk. The rubbing operation causes the glass or sealing wax in either case to be charged (electrified). Charges generated in this manner are called frictional electricity. We say that friction produces electricity, which is a convenient statement if not absolutely true. What we mean is that friction “electrifies” certain objects which in turn under certain conditions lose their charges and the result will be a flow of electrons.
