The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1912-12-21
SIMPLE EXPLANATIONS
OF ELECTRIC FACTS.

ture lie a graphic representation OF an
idea before you can grasp the signif-
ieancc of the picture.
Electricity is a far more definite
science than that OF steam power. The
public has learned from constant re-
petition that about s0e5 Of the energy
liberated by burning coal TO run n
steam engine is wasted. In an cleo
trioal machine the vase is far less and
the amount of energy that Is generated
can be measured far more accurately.
Electric generators are machines to
transform mechanical power into elec-
trical power. In other words. they
generate electric current when driven
by mechanical power They are run
by steam engines. turbines. gas en-
sines or some other form Of mcchani.
cal power called prime movers The
generator is constructed 10 transform
the amount OF mechanical power that
the prime mover running IL supplies.
\ generator run by a ten horse power
engine, for instance. win transform ten
horse power of energy, less a small
percentage (about 1860 lost in the
process. Electrical engineers don't
usually say that a generator trans
forms ten horse power. Their measure
of energy Cor power) is the kilowatt
which is equal 10 one and a third horse
power. So they say that the gencr-
n IN. trapsforn,e ScN,p aud a holf lii.
owatts. which is the equivalent Of ten
horse power. Why should this change
i'm nomenclature be any more con-
fusing than To say that one inch is
equal To two an da half centimeters?
Mention the action of electric cur
rent to ncophytc, and he Immediately
assumes q look blank per-
piexity. Yet the fundamental facts
about electric current are extremely
simple. An electric current will not
move unless il can move in "A complete
circuit. and get back where it came
from. This is why il is safer for a
man handling an electric current 10
work with one hand behind his back.
He is then not likely TO touch il i'm
two places and thus complete cir
cult through himself. Electric cur
rent may be said to have exactly the
same sort Of intelligence as child
playing puss- in the-corncr. The child
will not leave the corner it occupies
until IL sees "a corner free for ii to
go TO. BY likening the electric circuit
b1 10, l,,I
water 10 wash basin and away from
it 10 the sewer. ii is possible to grasp
this idea by noting the difference in
the action Of electric current and of
the water. In the case of electricity,
If you open the faucc: the electricity
VIII How only IL the discharge pipe is
free all the way, and IL has the power
Of finding this out instantly even If
the obstruction In the discharge pipe
is very far away. In other words. an
electric current acts physically like
one continuous piece of material. such
as a hoop or an endless chain. one
part OF which will not move unless the
whole Of IL moves. You cannot rcvolve
one part of a hoop without revolving
the whole hoop. You cannot move one
part of an endless chain without NOV
ing the whole chain. In telegraphine
from New York to Chicago the action
Of electric current is precisely similar
TO what IL would DC if YOU had long
chain reaching this distance and back,
and You pulled IL intermittcntly TO
81. L.,
stead of pulling on the chain you break
and close the electric circuit. This
Fan bc done at any point along the
line. and the effect is apparent at any
other place or at any number of places
Sometimes the return
part OF the chain is by a second cleo
trio wire, and sometimes the return
Is made through the earth. When the
circuit Is broken at any point on the
line the current stops everywhere, to
start again when the break is closed
But how does the current i'm New York
know that the circuit is broken IN
Chicago? This brings US TO one of the
facts about electric cur
rent II travels at the rate eff 200
300 miles n second. and can, SO to
speak see ahead" this distance which
IS longer than any electric circuit that
has ever been used. SO an electric
stops in less than a second IL
he circuit Is broken any where with
m 100000 miles of where the current
IS generated.
We have said that an electric gen
srator Of ten horse power capacity run
)y ten horse power engine Will
ransform ten horse power of mechan-
cal energy into ten horse power. or
icven aud half kilowatts, OF cleo
tricity with practically no less. This
IS true Of direct current generator.
nut in an alternating current generator
anger carrying capacity is required
or the following reason: Electric
bower is the product Of the volume OF
,urrent tamperes) and the pressure
1T which IL flows tvolts) Just as the
energy with which water ilows out OF
!, pipe is the result of the volume Of
water and the pressure at which u Is
lowing. The product OF the amperes