5 Electrifying

Chapter 5 Electrifying When streets and houses are set up with an electricity supply, it's known as electrification. In 1879, George H. Roe formed the first electricity company in San Francisco, USA. We'll supply your electricity for just $10 a week!

Thomas Edison opened his own electrical power stations in London and New York. Wires from his power stations carried electricity for thousands of light bulbs. Ooooh! Aaah! Whole cities could now be lit by electricity- indoors and out. On December 20, 1880, the first electric streetlights in New York were switched on, along Broadway.

But Edison's wires couldn't carry electricity very far. He was using "Direct Current" or DC electricity, which always flows in the same direction around a circuit. The wires heated up as they carried the electricity, wasting energy and losing power. The longer the wires, the more power is wasted.

So, in the 1880s, an inventor named Nikola Tesla found a way to make another kind of electricity, "Alternating Current" or AC. The current switches direction 50 or 60 times a second, and can carry electricity over long distances without losing too much power.

Before long, a businessman named George Westinghouse was building AC power stations. Edison was furious. AC electricity is dangerous! In 1890, AC electricity was used to electrocute William Kemmler, the first person to be executed by electric chair.

Despite Edison's worries, AC worked so well for supplying houses that it soon replaced DC. Today, most of our electricity is AC. It comes from power stations that convert energy from coal or gas, water, wind or nuclear power, into electrical energy. Steam Water Turbine Generator A generator turns the spinning movement into electricity. This power station burns coal to heat water and make steam. The steam makes a huge motor called a turbine spin around. Transformer