What is electricity?
Electric
is basically transporting the energy produced bu any kind of energy source;
with the help of electrons in the atoms. Electric itself is not an energy. İn
todays technology energy is not something we can hold or store or use directly.
We transfer the energy of a source to a carrier then we can use it. As an
example coal is an energy source but we cannor use or hold yhe energy hidden in
the chemical structure of coal. We burn the coal to rlease the energy of the
molecules to gain energy as heat. Then we make steam by heating water. Then hot
steam is used to do things needing energy. İn this example energy is in the
form of heat, source is coal and the energy transporter is steam. After that
axample it is easily to be said that electric is the way of transporting energy
like we did and still do with steam. Instead of energy loaded water molecules energy
loaded electrons flow through the system.
Lets
use another knowledge to make another starting point. All matters/materials/
physical beeings are formed of atoms. Atoms are the basic components of
everything we can fell with our senses. At the center of the atom there is the
nucleus of the atom. The nucleus is made up of positively charged protons and
neutral neutrons. Almost all of the weight is condensed in this very small
piece. On the perifer of the atom there are electrons which are negatively
charged and considered as weightless. By the help of these advantages electrons
are always on the move through certain orbitals. However protons and neutrons
don’t do that. They can only vibrate in the nucleus which is practically
nonsense in electricity.
İf anyone could have seen the
movement of the electrons probably that one would say that electrons move
randomly. However they do not. Like planets moving around the sun or the
satelites moving around a planet, electrons have relatively certain orbits also.
As a difference electrons orbitals are more circular and their speed is almost
equal to the speed of light. Electrons can be such free because they are almost
weightless. The weight of an electron is 1/2000 of a proton. A proton is a lot
smaller than we can imagine. How ever electron is 2000 times lighter than them.
So they are much more free in the atom.
For a beter explaqnation we can
imagine hydrogen gas atoms. A hydrogen atom consists of only 1 proton and 1
electron. Since electron is practically weightless atomic weight of hydrogen is
practically equal to the weight of proton. One gram of hydrogen consists 6,02*10²³
hydrogen atom. İn other words 602 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 adet hidrojen
(practically proton) is only one gram. So one proton alone is 1/ 602 000 000
000 000 000 000 000 of a gram.
In a universe where measures are
that small an electron is approximately 1/2000 of that measure. It is
practically nonsense to make calculations that difficult where these
differences do not mean anything practically.
After all, some chemistry from
high school: all atoms have different numbers of electrons and these electrons
make their movements in certain orbital routes. This means atoms have 3
dimentional shapes. As known commonly the strongest 3 d shape is sphere. So
every atom basically wants to be in a perfect spherical form. And try to be so.
In atomic universe this perfect
spherical shape can happen only when there is 8 electrons in the last orbit of
the atom. It is nonsense to make the schrodinger calculations here. That is
unecessarly complex fort he end point users like us. But as a summary we can
say that if there is 3 or less atoms in the last orbit of an atom, that atom is
a metal and that atom will tend to give these excess electrons instead of gaining
new ones. Giving out 3 electrons is much easier than getting 5 more from other
sources. The opposite is true in another way: if an atom has 5, 6 or 7
electrons in the last orbit; it is an ametal (or non-metal) and that material
will prefer to get electrons from other atoms instead of giving them out.
The atoms having exact 8
electrons in the valence orbital (last orbital is called valence orbital) are
noble gasses. Since they have the perfect architectural structure in atomic
universe they are do not intend to relate with other atoms to make electron
transport. Also there are only 8 atoms in that noble class and they are all
gasses. Because of that we will not see them much in daily electric.
The atoms having 4 electrons on
the valence orbital can either take or give electrons. Because of that they can
act very different in different enviroments. There are only 4 atoms in that
form and the intentions of each of them are so different that usage of these
materials have unique properties. For example pure carbon can both give and
take electrons and surprisingly the number of transferred electrons do not need
to be exactly 4. Less or more than 4 electrons can be transferred and the
energy needed for neither gaining nor giving out is almost equal. So the tarnsfer
can work in both ways. Because of that carbon is mostly used in several battery
types. However silicon has also 4 valence electrons but less intent to transfer
electrons. So silicon is used in circuit parts in order to control the flow of
electric current.
Another subject to be mentioned
is affinity of the atoms to electrons. The less the number of electrons in the
valence the more affinity to electrons. As an example an atom having only 1
valence electron has more intence to give that only electron out then another
atom of having 3 valence electrons. İn another words an atom with less
electrons to transfer can do that faster and stronger than that with morfe
electrons. Like sodium has only one valence electron and aluminum has 3 valence
electron. Sodium can give its electron many more faster than aluminum and sodium
is much more dominant in such a trade than aluminum.
The opposite is also true. An
atom having 7 valence electrons need only one electron for a perfect spherical
shape. And these atoms have more affinity to electrons than that of 6 or 5 valence
electrons. As an example chlorine gas has 7 electrons and need only one
electron to be a perfect sphere. Nitrogen has 5 valence electrons and need 3
more electrons fort he spherical shape. Because of that free chlorine gas can
easily react to almost any material even in room temperature however nitrogen
needs the power of a thunder to make the same electron trade. This affinity
difference is the basic of the batteries.
All metals intend to give their
electron but this is not always that easy. For example cupper has only valence
electrons but the atom itself is so big that cupper atoms can not get close
enough the gaining atom to maket he transfer. As another example aluminum is a
relatively smaller atom but it has 3 valence electrons. The atoms that can take
3 atoms at the same time have less affinity. So the nitrogen which is capable
of getting 3 electrons at the same time and the aluminum on the ground do not
form aluminum nitrogenate. The atoms which are capable of gainin one electron
at a time, have more affinity but this time the probability of being a 3
valence material and a 1 valence ametal at the same time at the same place with
the same amount of energy is so low that aluminum chloride is also so
rare in nature. Same calculation is valid with the 3 valence metals and 2
valence ametals like aluminum and oxygen in the air.
That kind of metals cannot give
their electrons easily bu they are very unconfortable with these valence
electrons. Because of that they set their elecrons free. The electrons can move
freely in the atom in most metals. Actually a metal is like a sea of freely
floating electrons with the islands of nucleii. However the nucleus is stil
powerful enough to hold its electrons closer. Yet valence electrons have more
permission to float; more free to move further. Although all metals can do
that; aluminum, cupper and some such metals are more important in electricity.
Because of that ı gave examples of them.
The freely floating electrons sea
still has an order and nucleus is stil powerful enough to hold the electrons
close but this bond is not as powerful as the ametals. These floating electrons
can easily be taken away from the authority of the nucleii (nucleii is the
plural form of nucleus. It is like saying nucleuses). Because of that
phenomenia, applying a constant magnetic effect to the metal roll from
different dimentions like a Rolling system you can manage to push all the
electrons moving to the same direction. Which is called electrical current.
This is accomplished about 150 years ago by building both dynamos and
alternators to produce electric current.
By the help of that floating
electrons idea metals can easily let their electrons to flow to the direction
of the current. Because of that metals can transfer electricity. Every metal
atom have different resistance but all can do that. Thats why electric wires
are made of metals. Especially copper and aluminum is used because they are
cheap enough, it is much easier to put them in shapes, both have beter
flexibility and as in the given examples above cupper and aluminum are more
resistant to oxidation. So they can have a long lifetime when installed.
İron could be used for wiring but
it can be oxidized much faster and is much heavier than both cupper and
aluminum. Also gold and silver are a lot less resistant to electric flow but
are much much more expensive. Titanium can be a good material with beeing less
resistant to electric and having less weight than most of the metals. However
it is very hard to shape titanium and that is why titanium is used in high
physical ressistance systems like space crafts.