Electronics Abbreviations

What is Electricity?

Electricity is the branch of physics whose object of study is the phenomena related to electrostatics, electrokinetics and electromagnetism.

According to the law of conservation of energy, it is one of the forms that energy can adopt and that gives rise to multiple phenomena, such as calorific, mechanical, luminous, etc. It is based on the movement of electric charges, being, therefore, linked to the state of the atoms of the material considered. This is said to be in the neutral state when there is equality of positive and negative charges inside, being in the positive state when there is a deficiency of electrons and negative when these are in excess. These states, in turn, give rise to the appearance of electrical forces of attraction and repulsion, dependent on the sign of the charges. Its intensity is greater than that of gravitational forces, originating through appropriate distributions of those charges, which causes the appearance of electric fields around it.

The name electricity comes from the Greek word elektron (amber), due to the knowledge that existed since antiquity, observed, among others, by Thales of Miletus, of the phenomenon of electrostatic attraction of light bodies caused by a previously rubbed amber rod (electrification by friction).

Electric current

The free movement of electrons inside the material (a metal, for example) causes the appearance of the so-called electric current, which gives rise to various physical effects, such as the Joule effect (calorific), electrolysis (chemical) or magnetic induction. (magnetic).

The transport of electric current, which can be, according to its form of propagation, alternating or continuous, can also take place under suitable conditions, in the midst of gases and liquids.

Electricity and magnetism

There is a close connection between the electric current and the magnetic field, since this is generated by the presence of moving charges and, conversely, its variation can give rise to the appearance of an electric current (induction). The integration of electric and magnetic fields gives rise to the electromagnetic field whose study electromagnetism is concerned with.

In 1826, HC Oersted experimentally discovered the relationship between electricity and magnetism, by observing the deflection of a magnetized needle, caused by the influence of the electric current flowing through a conductor placed in its proximity. A little later, F. Aragó magnetized a needle placed under the influence of a conductor wound in a spiral; however, Ampère discovered that currents attract or repel each other when traveling conductors in the same or opposite directions, which led him to invent the electromagnet, thus opening the field to electromagnetism.

In 1831, Faraday began the transformation of electrical energy into mechanical work (electromagnetic induction), rotating some magnets previously placed next to a circuit, which allowed him to discover a new way of generating electricity and thus demonstrating the intimate relationship between this and magnetism..

Static electricity

Static electricity is a form of electricity that is in equilibrium or at rest, and therefore is not moving from one object to another. The area of physics that studies electrical charges at rest is electrostatics.

List of Acronyms Related to Electronics