The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-11-23
Chapter II.

Electricity is funny stun, nobody
ever sees It, but we all pick 1t up at
times. Like love and anger, It acts
and reacts and we have the alter
mating current. People like to be
entertained by electricity, but they
do not like to study it seriously it Ia
SO dry. It governs our automobiles
and it is coming to govern many
other things that we shall depend
upon to greater extent each year,
and now while people are not so
busy as usual, is a good time to
learn few things about it.
The language of electricity is
vague. The strength Of an engine
is usually denoted in "horse power"
and electric motors are spoken Of in
the same way. James Watt, the in
ventor of the steam engine and in
ventor of copying ink, devised a
unit for measuring electrical force,
and for 100 years people have called
that unit watt. Kilo means a
thousand, and we have kilowatt,
meaning a thousand watts. It is
one and a third horse power If you
know what that is, or to be more
exact, It is 1.3408 horse power. A
kilowatt hour is the energy Of that
unit expended for one hour.
A watt is unit for measuring
power.
An ampere is unit for measur-
ing current.
An ohm is unit for measuring
resistance.
A volt is a unit for measuring
force.
People who are not specialists in
a thing, are spoken of as 'laymen"
and it is puzzling to a layman, and
especially an irrigator, to find a dis
tinction between power and force;
between current and resistence; be-
tween force and resistnce, and it is
worth while to study 1t SO we can
comprehend better some of the
terms that are used to convey in
formation electrical.
Power is aggressive and con-
tinuous. A steel spring may have
pressure to a certain point, but we
do not speak of it as having power.
Current refers to the speed Of
water or electricity that is moving
thru or over or by given point.
If there is any difference between
force and power, it might be defined
by saying that stream of water
striking water wheel exerts force
against it and produces or transmits
power to the machinery.
Resistance can be found In al
coiled spring when you press it, but
it will press only a certain amount
and no more. If it could put more
energy into itself at times, and do
something, that would be called
force.
A column of water in a pipe
standing vertically, exerts a certain
amount of pressure and no more. If
you try to lift that water up out of
the pipe as with pump, 1t offers
certain amount of dead weight, but
it is not resistance as used electric
ally.
A sled moving on dry ground finds
resistance, but when moving on wet
ground there is less resistance, and
still less when moving on snow.
Water rushing thru a rough pipe
finds resistance on the sides Of the
pipe, but if the pipe is polished in
side, there is less resistance.
In an irrigating ditch, the speed
of the water is called current, and
the current determines the volume
of water that can pass thru in
given time.
If we fill a straw with water and
stand it up in vertical position with
neither end touching anything, the
water will stay in the straw with
out moving for time. There is no
current, If you enlarge the straw
to tube the size of a pencil, and
make the same experiment, the