Where does electricity come from?

[Cogman]

Gov't student loans can be used to cover the cost of textbooks. Student loans don't go away in bankruptcy.

So, why would the gov't stop a process that is making money for the gov't?

Student loans have artificially low rates.

Rates are set to ensure the lender doesn't loose money

In the long run, the government is going to loose money on student loans through non-payback (Delayed payback also results in loss of money).

Not only that, but the government BORROWS money at a higher rate than that of the student loans.

The government loses money from students loans (They may gain it back by the students making more money and paying higher taxes).

 

[Pr0d1gy]

We actually have proof that the ancient Sumerians built batteries and possibly even had lightbulbs. They used their typical clay pots, lined with copper, and a metal rod protruding out of the middle of the pot up through the top...then they added an acidic liquid such as grape juice to help create the charge.

 

[Rubycon]

The electricity we use in our home comes from power stations. It is produced by burning coal, oil, gas or using nuclear energy.
Windmills and gas from tips can also generate electricity. Electricity leaves the power station running at an amazing
400,000 or 132,000 volts. Electricity this powerful would blow up factory machinery and household appliances.
To stop this happening the electricity is reduced in voltage as it travels along.

Most generators are 11-16kV. This gets stepped up to 230kV for subtransmission and may go as high as 750kV for long transmission before distribution, etc.

The electricity is not "powerful" its potential is higher.

To see what would happen if a 33kV distribution line touches a 13kV feeder and flashes over to household 230/115V service look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmy9CHCewtg

 

[Crono]

OP, textbook is wrong, electricity comes from my hands.

Let me slap you to prove it.

 

[Cogman]

Most generators are 11-16kV. This gets stepped up to 230kV for subtransmission and may go as high as 750kV for long transmission before distribution, etc.

The electricity is not "powerful" its potential is higher.

To see what would happen if a 33kV distribution line touches a 13kV feeder and flashes over to household 230/115V service look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmy9CHCewtg

Well, a higher voltage will ionize things at longer distances. I think that might be what the article was confusing. It is part of the reason we don't run very high voltages (and those voltages are decreasing), we don't want it to arc over the transistor gates.

 

[Rubycon]

OP, textbook is wrong, electricity comes from my hands.

Let me slap you to prove it.

Give me a few Farads of charge! :biggrin::wub:

 

[MrMuppet]

We actually have proof that the ancient Sumerians built batteries and possibly even had lightbulbs.

Really? We have proof it was indeed a battery?

edit: Oh, and aliens.jpg

 

[Kwatt]

Really? We have proof it was indeed a battery?

edit: Oh, and aliens.jpg

Baghdad Battery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Baghdad Battery, sometimes referred to as the Parthian Battery, is the common name for a number of artifacts created in Mesopotamia, during the dynasties of Parthian or Sassanid period (the early centuries AD), and probably discovered in 1936 in the village of Khuyut Rabbou'a, near Baghdad, Iraq. These artifacts came to wider attention in 1938 when Wilhelm König, the German director of the National Museum of Iraq, found the objects in the museum's collections. In 1940, König published a paper speculating that they may have been galvanic cells, perhaps used for electroplating gold onto silver objects. Though far from settled, this interpretation continues to be considered as at least a hypothetical possibility. If correct, the artifacts would predate Alessandro Volta's 1800 invention of the electrochemical cell by more than a millennium.

None still had a charge when found....


.

 

[Ichinisan]

None still had a charge when found....


.

Key word:

... speculating ...

 

[Ichinisan]

The Journey of Electricity

Why does the power station have smoke coming out of it?

Are you serious?

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=cooling+towers

 

[Dominato3r]

Are you serious?

Coal? Are you serious?

 

[IGBT]

lots of it used to come from dams on the west coast. The eco-KOOKS have infected public policy resulting in the destruction of those dams.

 

[davmat787]

lots of it used to come from dams on the west coast. The eco-KOOKS have infected public policy resulting in the destruction of those dams.

I love my salmon and fishing, I hope we can get rid of all the damn dams here in the NW soon. Bring on the nuclear I say, short of a miracle invention we will have to eventually switch to it anyway.

 

[Ichinisan]

Coal? Are you serious?

Wut?

 

[Rastus]

Electricity comes from babbys. Then babbys are used to power the matrix.

 

[IronWing]

There seems to be some confusion about the cooling towers in the cartoon above. While this particular shape of cooling tower has come to be associated with nuclear power plants the design is also used for coal plants. So the juxtaposition of the cooling towers and smoke stack is appropriate.

 

[IronWing]

Electricity comes from babbys. Then babbys are used to power the matrix.

That part of the matrix movies I thought totally off the charts stupid.

 

[lxskllr]

There seems to be some confusion about the cooling towers in the cartoon above. While this particular shape of cooling tower has come to be associated with nuclear power plants the design is also used for coal plants. So the juxtaposition of the cooling towers and smoke stack is appropriate.

I figured they used artistic license to show a couple sources of power. I don't think I've ever seen a coal plant.

 

[olds]

Ya, I've felt it.

 

[MrMuppet]

It's spirit extract. They're harvesting our souls for it.

 

[IronWing]

I don't think I've ever seen a coal plant.

 

[Ichinisan]

There seems to be some confusion about the cooling towers in the cartoon above. While this particular shape of cooling tower has come to be associated with nuclear power plants the design is also used for coal plants. So the juxtaposition of the cooling towers and smoke stack is appropriate.

Exactly. The picture doesn't say if it's smoke or steam coming from the tower, but there's nothing at all unusual about the picture. There's something like a pile of coal in the picture. Because it shows two types of towers, it's probably supposed to represent both types of plants.

 

[Ichinisan]

I figured they used artistic license to show a couple sources of power. I don't think I've ever seen a coal plant.

Most power plants are coal-powered. I grew up near one. It had the tall, skinny towers.

 

[lxskllr]

Most power plants are coal-powered. I grew up near one. It had the tall, skinny towers.

Everything around here is hydro and nuke. They burn trash in the city, but I don't know if that's for power or steam.

 

[jagec]

Most power plants are coal-powered.

The plurality, but not the majority (in the US).