Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.

The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday. His basic method is still used today: electricity is generated by the movement of a loop of wire, or disc of copper between the poles of a magnet.^[1]

For electric utilities, it is the first process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. The other processes, electricity transmission, distribution, and electrical power storage and recovery using pumped storage methods are normally carried out by the electric power industry.

Electricity is most often generated at a power station by electromechanical generators, primarily driven by heat engines fueled by chemical combustion or nuclear fission but also by other means such as the kinetic energy of flowing water and wind. There are many other technologies that can be and are used to generate electricity such as solar photovoltaics and geothermal power.

Sources of electricity in the U.S. in 2009^[2] fossil fuel generation (mainly coal) was the largest source.

Sources of electricity in France in 2006;^[3] nuclear power was the main source.

History[link]

Central power stations became economically practical with the development of alternating current power transmission, using power transformers to transmit power at high voltage and with low loss. Electricity has been generated at central stations since 1881. The first power plants were run on water power^[4] or coal,^[5] and today we rely mainly on coal, nuclear, natural gas, hydroelectric, and petroleum with a small amount from solar energy, tidal harnesses, wind generators, and geothermal sources.

Methods of generating electricity[link]

There are seven fundamental methods of directly transforming other forms of energy into electrical energy:

• Static electricity, from the physical separation and transport of charge (examples: triboelectric effect and lightning)
• Electromagnetic induction, where an electrical generator, dynamo or alternator transforms kinetic energy (energy of motion) into electricity, this is most used form for generating electricity, it is based on Faraday's law, can be experimented by simply rotating a magnet within closed loop of a conducting material (e.g. Copper wire)
• Electrochemistry, the direct transformation of chemical energy into electricity, as in a battery, fuel cell or nerve impulse
• Photoelectric effect, the transformation of light into electrical energy, as in solar cells
• Thermoelectric effect, direct conversion of temperature differences to electricity, as in thermocouples, thermopiles, and Thermionic converters.

• Piezoelectric effect, from the mechanical strain of electrically anisotropic molecules or crystals. Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a piezoelectric generator sufficient to operate a liquid crystal display using thin films of M13 bacteriophage .^[6]

• Nuclear transformation, the creation and acceleration of charged particles (examples: betavoltaics or alpha particle emission)

Static electricity was the first form discovered and investigated, and the electrostatic generator is still used even in modern devices such as the Van de Graaff generator and MHD generators. Charge carriers are separated and physically transported to a position of increased electric potential.

Almost all commercial electrical generation is done using electromagnetic induction, in which mechanical energy forces an electrical generator to rotate. There are many different methods of developing the mechanical energy, including heat engines, hydro, wind and tidal power.

The direct conversion of nuclear potential energy to electricity by beta decay is used only on a small scale. In a full-size nuclear power plant, the heat of a nuclear reaction is used to run a heat engine. This drives a generator, which converts mechanical energy into electricity by magnetic induction.

Most electric generation is driven by heat engines. The combustion of fossil fuels supplies most of the heat to these engines, with a significant fraction from nuclear fission and some from renewable sources. The modern steam turbine (invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884) currently generates about 80 percent of the electric power in the world using a variety of heat sources.

Turbines[link]

Large dams such as Three Gorges Dam in China can provide large amounts of hydroelectric power; it will have a 22.5 GW capability.

All turbines are driven by a fluid acting as an intermediate energy carrier. Many of the heat engines just mentioned are turbines. Other types of turbines can be driven by wind or falling water.

Sources include:

• Steam - Water is boiled by:
  • Nuclear fission,
  • The burning of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, or petroleum). In hot gas (gas turbine), turbines are driven directly by gases produced by the combustion of natural gas or oil. Combined cycle gas turbine plants are driven by both steam and natural gas. They generate power by burning natural gas in a gas turbine and use residual heat to generate additional electricity from steam. These plants offer efficiencies of up to 60%.
  • Renewables. The steam generated by:
    • Biomass
    • Solar thermal energy (the sun as the heat source): solar parabolic troughs and solar power towers concentrate sunlight to heat a heat transfer fluid, which is then used to produce steam.
    • Geothermal power. Either steam under pressure emerges from the ground and drives a turbine or hot water evaporates a low boiling liquid to create vapour to drive a turbine.
    • Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC ): uses the small difference between cooler deep and warmer surface ocean waters to run a heat engine (usually a turbine).

• Other renewable sources:
  

  

  Large dams such as Hoover Dam can provide large amounts of hydroelectric power; it has 2.07 GW capability.
  • Water (hydroelectric) - Turbine blades are acted upon by flowing water, produced by hydroelectric dams or tidal forces.
  • Wind - Most wind turbines generate electricity from naturally occurring wind. Solar updraft towers use wind that is artificially produced inside the chimney by heating it with sunlight, and are more properly seen as forms of solar thermal energy.

Reciprocating engines[link]

Small electricity generators are often powered by reciprocating engines burning diesel, biogas or natural gas. Diesel engines are often used for back up generation, usually at low voltages. However most large power grids also use diesel generators, originally provided as emergency back up for a specific facility such as a hospital, to feed power into the grid during certain circumstances. Biogas is often combusted where it is produced, such as a landfill or wastewater treatment plant, with a reciprocating engine or a microturbine, which is a small gas turbine.

A coal-fired power plant in Laughlin, Nevada U.S.A. Owners of this plant ceased operations after declining to invest in pollution control equipment to comply with pollution regulations.^[7]

Photovoltaic panels[link]

Unlike the solar heat concentrators mentioned above, photovoltaic panels convert sunlight directly to electricity. Although sunlight is free and abundant, solar electricity is still usually more expensive to produce than large-scale mechanically generated power due to the cost of the panels. Low-efficiency silicon solar cells have been decreasing in cost and multijunction cells with close to 30% conversion efficiency are now commercially available. Over 40% efficiency has been demonstrated in experimental systems.^[8] Until recently, photovoltaics were most commonly used in remote sites where there is no access to a commercial power grid, or as a supplemental electricity source for individual homes and businesses. Recent advances in manufacturing efficiency and photovoltaic technology, combined with subsidies driven by environmental concerns, have dramatically accelerated the deployment of solar panels. Installed capacity is growing by 40% per year led by increases in Germany, Japan, California and New Jersey.

Other generation methods[link]

Wind-powered turbines usually provide electrical generation in conjunction with other methods of producing power.

Various other technologies have been studied and developed for power generation. Solid-state generation (without moving parts) is of particular interest in portable applications. This area is largely dominated by thermoelectric (TE) devices, though thermionic (TI) and thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems have been developed as well. Typically, TE devices are used at lower temperatures than TI and TPV systems. Piezoelectric devices are used for power generation from mechanical strain, particularly in power harvesting. Betavoltaics are another type of solid-state power generator which produces electricity from radioactive decay. Fluid-based magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) power generation has been studied as a method for extracting electrical power from nuclear reactors and also from more conventional fuel combustion systems. Osmotic power finally is another possibility at places where salt and sweet water merges (e.g. deltas, ...)

Electrochemical electricity generation is also important in portable and mobile applications. Currently, most electrochemical power comes from closed electrochemical cells ("batteries"),^[9] which are arguably utilized more as storage systems than generation systems, but open electrochemical systems, known as fuel cells, have been undergoing a great deal of research and development in the last few years. Fuel cells can be used to extract power either from natural fuels or from synthesized fuels (mainly electrolytic hydrogen) and so can be viewed as either generation systems or storage systems depending on their use.

Cost of generating electricity[link]

Production[link]

The production of electricity in 2008 was 20,261TWh, which was 11% of the solar energy the earth receives in one hour (174,000TWh). Sources of electricity were fossil fuels 67%, renewable energy 18%, and nuclear power 13%. The majority of fossil fuel usage for the generation of electricity was of coal and gas. Oil was only 5.5%. Ninety-two percent of renewable energy was hydroelectric followed by wind at 6% and geothermal at 1.8%. Solar photovoltaic was 0.06%, and solar thermal was 0.004%. Data are from IEA/OECD (2008)^[10]

data source IEA/OECD

Energy Flow of Power Plant

Total energy consumed at all power plants for the generation of electricity was 4,398,768 ktoe (kilo ton of oil equivalent) which was 36% of the total for primary energy sources (TPES) of 2008.
Electricity output (gross) was 1,735,579 ktoe (20,185 TWh), efficiency was 39%, and the balance of 61% was generated heat. A small part(145,141 ktoe, which was 3% of the input total) of the heat was utilized at co-generation heat and power plants. The in-house consumption of electricity and power transmission losses were 289,681 ktoe.

The amount supplied to the final consumer was 1,445,285 ktoe (16,430 TWh) which was 33% of the total energy consumed at power plants and heat and power co-generation (CHP) plants.^[11]

Historical results of production of electricity[link]

Production by country[link]

The United States has long been the largest producer and consumer of electricity, with a global share in 2005 of at least 25%, followed by China, Japan, Russia, and India.

As of Jan-2010, total electricity generation for the 2 largest generators was as follows: USA: 3992 billion kWh (3992 TWh) China: 3715 billion kWh (3715 TWh)

List of countries with source of electricity 2008[link]

Data source of values (electric power generated) is IEA/OECD^[12]

Listed countries are top 20 by population or top 20 by GDP (PPP) and Saudi Arabia based on CIA World Factbook 2009.^[13]

Composition of Electricity by Resource (TWh per year 2008)

Country	Fossil Fuel					Nuclear	rank	Renewable								Bio other*	total	rank
	Coal	Oil	Gas	sub total	rank			Hydro	Geo Thermal	Solar PV*	Solar Thermal	Wind	Tide	sub total	rank
World total	8,263	1,111	4,301	13,675	-	2,731	-	3,288	65	12	0.9	219	0.5	3,584	-	271	20,261	-
Proportion	41%	5.5%	21%	67%	-	13%	-	16%	0.3%	0.06%	0.004%	1.1%	0.003%	18%	-	1.3%	100%	-
China	2,733	23	31	2,788	2	68	8	585	-	0.2	-	13	-	598	1	2.4	3,457	2
India	569	34	82	685	6	15	12	114	-	0.02	-	14	-	128	6	2.0	830	5
USA	2,133	58	911	3,101	1	838	1	282	17	1.6	0.88	56	-	357	4	73	4,369	1
Indonesia	61	43	25	130	19	-	-	12	8.3	-	-	-	-	20	17	-	149	20
Brazil	13	18	29	59	23	14	13	370	-	-	-	0.6	-	370	3	20	463	9
Pakistan	0.1	32	30	62	22	1.6	160	28	-	-	-	-	-	28	14	-	92	24
Bangladesh	0.6	1.7	31	33	27	-	-	1.5	-	-	-	-	-	1.5	29	-	35	27
Nigeria	-	3.1	12	15	28	-	-	5.7	-	-	-	-	-	5.7	25	-	21	28
Russia	197	16	495	708	4	163	4	167	0.5	-	-	0.01	-	167	5	2.5	1,040	4
Japan	288	139	283	711	3	258	3	83	2.8	2.3	-	2.6	-	91	7	22	1,082	3
Mexico	21	49	131	202	13	9.8	14	39	7.1	0.01	-	0.3	-	47	12	0.8	259	14
Philippines	16	4.9	20	40	26	-	-	9.8	11	0.001	-	0.1	-	21	16	-	61	26
Vietnam	15	1.6	30	47	25	-	-	26	-	-	-	-	-	26	15	-	73	25
Ethiopia	-	0.5	-	0.5	29	-	-	3.3	0.01	-	-	-	-	3.3	28	-	3.8	30
Egypt	-	26	90	115	20	-	-	15	-	-	-	0.9	-	16	20	-	131	22
Germany	291	9.2	88	388	6	148	6	27	0.02	4.4	-	41	-	72	9	29	637	7
Turkey	58	7.5	99	164	16	-	-	33	0.16	-	-	0.85	-	34	13	0.22	198	19
DR Congo	-	0.02	0.03	0.05	30	-	-	7.5	-	-	-	-	-	7.5	22	-	7.5	29
Iran	0.4	36	173	209	11	-	-	5.0	-	-	-	0.20	-	5.2	26	-	215	17
Thailand	32	1.7	102	135	18	-	-	7.1	0.002	0.003	-	-	-	7.1	23	4.8	147	21
France	27	5.8	22	55	24	439	2	68	-	0.04	-	5.7	0.51	75	8	5.9	575	8
UK	127	6.1	177	310	7	52	10	9.3	-	0.02	-	7.1	-	16	18	11	389	11
Italy	49	31	173	253	9	-	-	47	5.5	0.2	-	4.9	-	58	11	8.6	319	12
South Korea	192	15	81	288	8	151	5	5.6	-	0.3	-	0.4	-	6.3	24	0.7	446	10
Spain	50	18	122	190	14	59	9	26	-	2.6	0.02	32	-	61	10	4.3	314	13
Canada	112	9.8	41	162	17	94	7	383	-	0.03	-	3.8	0.03	386	2	8.5	651	6
Saudi Arabia	-	116	88	204	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	204	18
Taiwan	125	14	46	186	15	41	11	7.8	-	0.004	-	0.6	-	8.4	21	3.5	238	16
Australia	198	2.8	39	239	10	-	-	12	-	0.2	0.004	3.9	-	16	19	2.2	257	15
Netherlands	27	2.1	63	92	21	4.2	15	0.1	-	0.04	-	4.3	-	4.4	27	6.8	108	23
Country	Coal	Oil	Gas	sub total	rank	Nuclear	rank	Hydro	Geo Thermal	Solar PV	Solar Thermal	Wind	Tide	sub total	rank	Bio other	Total	rank

Solar PV* is Photovoltaics

Bio other* = 198TWh (Biomass) + 69TWh (Waste) + 4TWh (other)

Environmental concerns[link]

Most scientists agree that emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases from fossil fuel-based electricity generation account for a significant portion of world greenhouse gas emissions; in the United States, electricity generation accounts for nearly 40 percent of emissions, the largest of any source. Transportation emissions are close behind, contributing about one-third of U.S. production of carbon dioxide.^[14]

In the United States, fossil fuel combustion for electric power generation is responsible for 65% of all emissions of sulfur dioxide, the main component of acid rain.^[15] Electricity generation is the fourth highest combined source of NOx, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter in the US.^[16]

In July 2011, the UK parliament tabled a motion that "levels of (carbon) emissions from nuclear power were approximately three times lower per kilowatt hour than those of solar, four times lower than clean coal and 36 times lower than conventional coal".^[17]

Though PV generation is positioned as environmentally friendly, fabrication of PV cells utilizes substantial amounts of water in addition to toxic chemicals such as phosphorus and arsenic. These are often over-looked when promoting PV. Because of strict environmental regulations in the United States, for example, PV fabrication is often performed in countries with lower standards, such as China.^{[citation needed]}

Water consumption[link]

Most large scale thermoelectric power stations consume considerable amounts of water for cooling purposes and boiler water make up - 1 L/kWh for once through (e.g. river cooling), and 1.7 L/kWh for cooling tower cooling.^[18] Water abstraction for cooling water accounts for about 40% of European total water abstraction, although most of this water is returned to its source, albeit slightly warmer. Different cooling systems have different consumption vs. abstraction characteristics. Cooling towers withdraw a small amount of water from the environment and evaporate most of it. Once-through systems withdraw a large amount but return it to the environment immediately, at a higher temperature

See also[link]

Energy portal

References[link]

External links[link]

• Electricity - A Visual Primer
• Power Technologies Energy Data Book
• NOW on PBS: Power Struggle
• This Week in Energy (TWiEpodcast)
• Electricity: From Table-top to Powerplant
• The Power Sector in Lebanonvia Carboun

Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday
Born	(1791-09-22)22 September 1791 Newington Butts, England
Died	25 August 1867(1867-08-25) (aged 75) Hampton Court, Middlesex, England
Residence	United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Fields	Physics, Chemistry
Institutions	Royal Institution
Known for	Faraday's law of induction Electrochemistry Faraday effect Faraday cage Faraday constant Faraday cup Faraday's laws of electrolysis Faraday paradox Faraday rotator Faraday-efficiency effect Faraday wave Faraday wheel Lines of force
Influences	Humphry Davy William Thomas Brande
Notable awards	Royal Medal (1835 & 1846) Copley Medal (1832 & 1838) Rumford Medal (1846)
Signature

Michael Faraday, FRS (22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was a British scientist, chemist, physicist and philosopher who greatly contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include that of the magnetic field, electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis.

Although Faraday received little formal education and knew little of higher mathematics such as calculus, he was one of the most influential scientists in history;^[1] historians^[2] of science refer to him as having been the best experimentalist in the history of science.^[3] It was by his research on the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a DC electric current that Faraday established the basis for the concept of the electromagnetic field in physics. Faraday also established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena.^[4][5] He similarly discovered the principle of electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, and the laws of electrolysis. His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became viable for use in technology.

As a chemist, Faraday discovered benzene, investigated the clathrate hydrate of chlorine, invented an early form of the Bunsen burner and the system of oxidation numbers, and popularised terminology such as anode, cathode, electrode, and ion. Faraday ultimately became the first and foremost Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, a lifetime position.

Faraday was an excellent experimentalist who conveyed his ideas in clear and simple language; his mathematical abilities, however, did not extend as far as trigonometry or any but the simplest algebra.... Maxwell took the work of Faraday and others, and summarized it in a set of equations that is accepted as the basis of all modern theories about electromagnetic phenomena. On Faraday's uses of the lines of force, Maxwell wrote that they show Faraday "to have been in reality a mathematician of a very high order – one from whom the mathematicians of the future may derive valuable and fertile methods."^[6]

It is said that Albert Einstein kept a picture of Faraday on his study wall, alongside the picture of Isaac Newton and the photograph of James Clerk Maxwell.^[7]

The SI unit of capacitance, the farad, is named in his honour.

Early years[link]

Faraday was born in Newington Butts,^[8] which is now part of the London Borough of Southwark, but which was then a suburban part of Surrey.^[9] His family was not well off; his father, James, was a member of the Glassite sect of Christianity. James Faraday moved his wife and two children to London during the winter of 1790 from Outhgill in Westmorland, where he had been an apprentice to the village blacksmith.^[10] Michael was born the autumn of that year. The young Michael Faraday, who was the third of four children, having only the most basic school education, had to educate himself.^[11] At fourteen he became the apprentice to George Riebau, a local bookbinder and bookseller in Blandford Street.^[12] During his seven-year apprenticeship he read many books, including Isaac Watts' The Improvement of the Mind, and he enthusiastically implemented the principles and suggestions contained therein. At this time he also developed an interest in science, especially in electricity. Faraday was particularly inspired by the book Conversations on Chemistry by Jane Marcet.^[13]

Portrait of Faraday in his late thirties

In 1812, at the age of twenty, and at the end of his apprenticeship, Faraday attended lectures by the eminent English chemist Humphry Davy of the Royal Institution and Royal Society, and John Tatum, founder of the City Philosophical Society. Many of the tickets for these lectures were given to Faraday by William Dance, who was one of the founders of the Royal Philharmonic Society. Faraday subsequently sent Davy a three-hundred-page book based on notes that he had taken during these lectures. Davy's reply was immediate, kind, and favourable. When Davy damaged his eyesight in an accident with nitrogen trichloride, he decided to employ Faraday as a secretary. When one of the Royal Institution's assistants, John Payne, was sacked, Sir Humphry Davy was asked to find a replacement, and appointed Faraday as Chemical Assistant at the Royal Institution on 1 March 1813.^[4]

In the class-based English society of the time, Faraday was not considered a gentleman. When Davy set out on a long tour of the continent in 1813–15, his valet did not wish to go. Instead, Faraday went as Davy's scientific assistant, and was asked to act as Davy's valet until a replacement could be found in Paris. Faraday was forced to fill the role of valet as well as assistant throughout the trip. Davy's wife, Jane Apreece, refused to treat Faraday as an equal (making him travel outside the coach, eat with the servants, etc.), and made Faraday so miserable that he contemplated returning to England alone and giving up science altogether. The trip did, however, give him access to the scientific elite of Europe and exposed him to a host of stimulating ideas.^[4]

Faraday married Sarah Barnard (1800–1879) on 12 June 1821.^[14] They met through their families at the Sandemanian church, and he confessed his faith to the Sandemanian congregation the month after they were married. They had no children.^[8]

Faraday was a devout Christian; his Sandemanian denomination was an offshoot of the Church of Scotland. Well after his marriage, he served as Deacon and for two terms as an Elder in the meeting house of his youth. His church was located at Paul's Alley in the Barbican. This meeting house was relocated in 1862 to Barnsbury Grove, Islington; this North London location was where Faraday served the final two years of his second term as Elder prior to his resignation from that post.^[15][16] Biographers have noted that "a strong sense of the unity of God and nature pervaded Faraday's life and work."^[17]

Scientific achievements[link]

Chemistry[link]

Michael Faraday in his laboratory, ca. 1850s by artist Harriet Jane Moore who documented Faraday's life in watercolours.

Faraday's earliest chemical work was as an assistant to Humphry Davy. Faraday was specifically involved in the study of chlorine; he discovered two new compounds of chlorine and carbon. He also conducted the first rough experiments on the diffusion of gases, a phenomenon that was first pointed out by John Dalton, and the physical importance of which was more fully brought to light by Thomas Graham and Joseph Loschmidt. Faraday succeeded in liquefying several gases, investigated the alloys of steel, and produced several new kinds of glass intended for optical purposes. A specimen of one of these heavy glasses subsequently became historically important; when the glass was placed in a magnetic field Faraday determined the rotation of the plane of polarisation of light. This specimen was also the first substance found to be repelled by the poles of a magnet.

Faraday invented an early form of what was to become the Bunsen burner, which is in practical use in science laboratories around the world as a convenient source of heat.^[18][19] Faraday worked extensively in the field of chemistry, discovering chemical substances such as benzene (which he called bicarburet of hydrogen), and liquefying gases such as chlorine. The liquefying of gases helped to establish that gases are the vapours of liquids possessing a very low boiling point, and gave a more solid basis to the concept of molecular aggregation. In 1820 Faraday reported the first synthesis of compounds made from carbon and chlorine, C₂Cl₆ and C₂Cl₄, and published his results the following year.^[20][21][22] Faraday also determined the composition of the chlorine clathrate hydrate, which had been discovered by Humphry Davy in 1810.^[23][24] Faraday is also responsible for discovering the laws of electrolysis, and for popularizing terminology such as anode, cathode, electrode, and ion, terms proposed in large part by William Whewell.

Faraday was the first to report what later came to be called metallic nanoparticles. In 1847 he discovered that the optical properties of gold colloids differed from those of the corresponding bulk metal. This was probably the first reported observation of the effects of quantum size, and might be considered to be the birth of nanoscience.^[25]

Electricity and magnetism[link]

Faraday is best known for his work regarding electricity and magnetism. His first recorded experiment was the construction of a voltaic pile with seven halfpence pieces, stacked together with seven disks of sheet zinc, and six pieces of paper moistened with salt water. With this pile he decomposed sulphate of magnesia (first letter to Abbott, 12 July 1812).

One of Faraday's 1831 experiments demonstrating induction. The liquid battery (right) sends an electric current through the small coil (A). When it is moved in or out of the large coil (B), its magnetic field induces a momentary voltage in the coil, which is detected by the galvanometer (G).

Electromagnetic rotation experiment of Faraday, ca. 1821^[26]

In 1821, soon after the Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetism, Davy and British scientist William Hyde Wollaston tried, but failed, to design an electric motor.^[5] Faraday, having discussed the problem with the two men, went on to build two devices to produce what he called "electromagnetic rotation". One of these, now known as the homopolar motor, caused a continuous circular motion that was engendered by the circular magnetic force around a wire that extended into a pool of mercury wherein was placed a magnet; the wire would then rotate around the magnet if supplied with current from a chemical battery. These experiments and inventions formed the foundation of modern electromagnetic technology. In his excitement, Faraday published results without acknowledging his work with either Wollaston or Davy. The resulting controversy within the Royal Society strained his mentor relationship with Davy and may well have contributed to Faraday’s assignment to other activities, which consequently prevented his involvement in electromagnetic research for several years.^[27][28]

From his initial discovery in 1821, Faraday continued his laboratory work, exploring electromagnetic properties of materials and developing requisite experience. In 1824, Faraday briefly set up a circuit to study whether a magnetic field could regulate the flow of a current in an adjacent wire, but he found no such relationship.^[29] This experiment followed similar work conducted with light and magnets three years earlier that yielded identical results.^[30][31] During the next seven years, Faraday spent much of his time perfecting his recipe for optical quality (heavy) glass, borosilicate of lead,^[32] which he used in his future studies connecting light with magnetism.^[33] In his spare time, Faraday continued publishing his experimental work on optics and electromagnetism; he conducted correspondence with scientists whom he had met on his journeys across Europe with Davy, and who were also working on electromagnetism.^[34] Two years after the death of Davy, in 1831, he began his great series of experiments in which he discovered electromagnetic induction. Joseph Henry likely discovered self-induction a few months earlier and both may have been anticipated by the work of Francesco Zantedeschi in Italy in 1829 and 1830.^[35]

English chemists John Daniell (left) and Michael Faraday (right), credited as founders of electrochemistry today.

A diagram of Faraday's iron ring-coil apparatus

Faraday's breakthrough came when he wrapped two insulated coils of wire around an iron^{[verification needed]} ring, and found that, upon passing a current through one coil, a momentary current was induced in the other coil.^[5] This phenomenon is now known as mutual induction. The iron ring-coil apparatus is still on display at the Royal Institution. In subsequent experiments, he found that, if he moved a magnet through a loop of wire, an electric current flowed in that wire. The current also flowed if the loop was moved over a stationary magnet. His demonstrations established that a changing magnetic field produces an electric field; this relation was modelled mathematically by James Clerk Maxwell as Faraday's law, which subsequently became one of the four Maxwell equations, and which have in turn evolved into the generalization known today as field theory. Faraday would later use the principles he had discovered to construct the electric dynamo, the ancestor of modern power generators.

In 1839, he completed a series of experiments aimed at investigating the fundamental nature of electricity; Faraday used "static", batteries, and "animal electricity" to produce the phenomena of electrostatic attraction, electrolysis, magnetism, etc. He concluded that, contrary to the scientific opinion of the time, the divisions between the various "kinds" of electricity were illusory. Faraday instead proposed that only a single "electricity" exists, and the changing values of quantity and intensity (current and voltage) would produce different groups of phenomena.^[5]

Near the end of his career, Faraday proposed that electromagnetic forces extended into the empty space around the conductor. This idea was rejected by his fellow scientists, and Faraday did not live to see the eventual acceptance of his proposition by the scientific community. Faraday's concept of lines of flux emanating from charged bodies and magnets provided a way to visualize electric and magnetic fields; that conceptual model was crucial for the successful development of the electromechanical devices that dominated engineering and industry for the remainder of the 19th century.

Diamagnetism[link]

Michael Faraday holding a glass bar of the type he used in 1845 to show that magnetism can affect light in a dielectric material.^[36]

In 1845, Faraday discovered that many materials exhibit a weak repulsion from a magnetic field: a phenomenon he termed diamagnetism.

Faraday also discovered that the plane of polarization of linearly polarized light can be rotated by the application of an external magnetic field aligned in the direction which the light is moving. This is now termed the Faraday effect. He wrote in his notebook, "I have at last succeeded in illuminating a magnetic curve or line of force and in magnetising a ray of light".

Later on in his life, in 1862, Faraday used a spectroscope to search for a different alteration of light, the change of spectral lines by an applied magnetic field. The equipment available to him was, however, insufficient for a definite determination of spectral change. Pieter Zeeman later used an improved apparatus to study the same phenomenon, publishing his results in 1897 and receiving the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics for his success. In both his 1897 paper^[37] and his Nobel acceptance speech,^[38] Zeeman made reference to Faraday's work.

Faraday cage[link]

In his work on static electricity, Faraday's ice pail experiment demonstrated that the charge resided only on the exterior of a charged conductor, and exterior charge had no influence on anything enclosed within a conductor. This is because the exterior charges redistribute such that the interior fields due to them cancel. This shielding effect is used in what is now known as a Faraday cage.

Royal Institution and public service[link]

Michael Faraday meets Father Thames, from Punch (21 July 1855)

Lighthouse lantern room from mid 1800s

Faraday was the first Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, a position to which he was appointed for life. His sponsor and mentor was John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, who created the position at the Royal Institution. Faraday was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1824,^[8] appointed director of the laboratory in 1825; and in 1833 he was appointed Fullerian Professor of Chemistry in the institution for life, without the obligation to deliver lectures.

Beyond his scientific research into areas such as chemistry, electricity, and magnetism at the Royal Institution, Faraday undertook numerous, and often time-consuming, service projects for private enterprise and the British government. This work included investigations of explosions in coal mines, being an expert witness in court, and the preparation of high-quality optical glass. In 1846, together with Charles Lyell, he produced a lengthy and detailed report on a serious explosion in the colliery at Haswell County Durham, which killed 95 miners. Their report was a meticulous forensic investigation and indicated that coal dust contributed to the severity of the explosion. The report should have warned coal owners of the hazard of coal dust explosions, but the risk was ignored for over 60 years until the Senghenydd Colliery Disaster of 1913.

As a respected scientist in a nation with strong maritime interests, Faraday spent extensive amounts of time on projects such as the construction and operation of light houses and protecting the bottoms of ships from corrosion. His workshop still stands at Trinity Buoy Wharf above the Chain and Buoy Store, next to London's only lighthouse and a school that is named after him.

Faraday was also active in what would now be called environmental science, or engineering. He investigated industrial pollution at Swansea and was consulted on air pollution at the Royal Mint. In July 1855, Faraday wrote a letter to The Times on the subject of the foul condition of the River Thames, which resulted in an oft-reprinted cartoon in Punch. (See also The Great Stink.)

Faraday assisted with the planning and judging of exhibits for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. He also advised the National Gallery on the cleaning and protection of its art collection, and served on the National Gallery Site Commission in 1857.

Education was another of Faraday's areas of service; he lectured on the topic in 1854 at the Royal Institution, and in 1862 he appeared before a Public Schools Commission to give his views on education in Great Britain. Faraday also weighed in negatively on the public's fascination with table-turning, mesmerism, and seances, and in so doing chastised both the public and the nation's educational system.^[39]

Faraday gave a successful series of lectures on the chemistry and physics of flames at the Royal Institution, entitled The Chemical History of a Candle. This was one of the earliest Christmas lectures for young people, which are still given each year. Between 1827 and 1860, Faraday gave the Christmas lectures a record nineteen times.

Later life[link]

Faraday in old age.

Michael Faraday delivering a Christmas Lecture in 1856.

In June 1832, the University of Oxford granted Faraday a Doctor of Civil Law degree (honorary). During his lifetime, Faraday rejected a knighthood and twice refused to become President of the Royal Society. Faraday was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1838, and was one of eight foreign members elected to the French Academy of Sciences in 1844.^[40]

In 1848, as a result of representations by the Prince Consort, Michael Faraday was awarded a grace and favour house in Hampton Court in Middlesex, free of all expenses or upkeep. This was the Master Mason's House, later called Faraday House, and now No.37 Hampton Court Road. In 1858 Faraday retired to live there.^[41]

When asked by the British government to advise on the production of chemical weapons for use in the Crimean War (1853–1856), Faraday refused to participate citing ethical reasons.^[42]

Faraday died at his house at Hampton Court on 25 August 1867 aged 75 years and 11 months.^[43] He had previously turned down burial in Westminster Abbey, but he has a memorial plaque there, near Isaac Newton's tomb. Faraday was interred in the dissenters' (non-Anglican) section of Highgate Cemetery. Hirshfeld maintains in his biography that Faraday suffered from mental breakdown due to his intellectual exertions so that he became debilitated by the end of his life and unable to conduct any meaningful research.

Commemorations[link]

Michael Faraday, statue in Savoy Place, London.
Sculptor John Henry Foley RA

Faraday School is located on Trinity Buoy Wharf where his workshop still stands above the Chain and Buoy Store, next to London's only lighthouse.

A statue of Faraday stands in Savoy Place, London, outside the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Also in London, the Michael Faraday Memorial, designed by brutalist architect Rodney Gordon and completed in 1961, is at the Elephant & Castle gyratory system, near Faraday's birthplace at Newington Butts.

Faraday Gardens is a small park in Walworth, London, not far from his birthplace at Newington Butts. This park lies within the local council ward of Faraday in the London Borough of Southwark.

A building at London South Bank University, which houses the institute's electrical engineering departments is named the Faraday Wing, due to its proximity to Faraday's birthplace in Newington Butts. A hall at Loughborough University was named after Faraday in 1960. Near the entrance to its dining hall is a bronze casting, which depicts the symbol of an electrical transformer, and inside there hangs a portrait, both in Faraday's honour. An eight-story building at the University of Edinburgh's science & engineering campus is named for Faraday, as is a recently built hall of accommodation at Brunel University, the main engineering building at Swansea University, and the instructional and experimental physics building at Northern Illinois University. The former UK Faraday Station in Antarctica was named after him.

Streets named for Faraday can be found in many British cities (e.g., London, Fife, Swindon, Basingstoke, Nottingham, Whitby, Kirkby, Crawley, Newbury, Swansea, Aylesbury and Stevenage) as well as in France (Paris), Germany (Hermsdorf), Canada (Quebec; Deep River, Ontario; Ottawa, Ontario), and the United States (Reston, Virginia).

From 1991 until 2001, Faraday's picture featured on the reverse of Series E £20 banknotes issued by the Bank of England. He was shown conducting a lecture at the Royal Institution with the magneto-electric spark apparatus.^[44]

Bibliography[link]

Faraday's books, with the exception of Chemical Manipulation, were collections of scientific papers or transcriptions of lectures.^[45] Since his death, Faraday's diary has been published, as have several large volumes of his letters and Faraday's journal from his travels with Davy in 1813–1815.

• Faraday, Michael (1827). Chemical Manipulation, Being Instructions to Students in Chemistry. John Murray.  2nd ed. 1830, 3rd ed. 1842
• Faraday, Michael (1839, 1844). Experimental Researches in Electricity, vols. i. and ii.. Richard and John Edward Taylor. http://www.archive.org/details/experimentalrese00faraiala. ; vol. iii. Richard Taylor and William Francis, 1855
• Faraday, Michael (1859). Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 0-85066-841-7. http://www.archive.org/details/experimentalrese00fararich. 
• Faraday, Michael (1861). W. Crookes. ed. A Course of Six Lectures on the Chemical History of a Candle. Griffin, Bohn & Co.. ISBN 1-4255-1974-1. http://www.archive.org/details/chemicalhistoryo00faraiala. 
• Faraday, Michael (1873). W. Crookes. ed. On the Various Forces in Nature. Chatto and Windus. http://www.archive.org/details/onvariousforceso00farauoft. 
• Faraday, Michael (1932–1936). T. Martin. ed. Diary. ISBN 0-7135-0439-0.  – published in eight volumes; see also the 2009 publication of Faraday's diary
• Faraday, Michael (1991). B. Bowers and L. Symons. ed. Curiosity Perfectly Satisfyed: Faraday's Travels in Europe 1813–1815. Institution of Electrical Engineers. 
• Faraday, Michael (1991). F. A. J. L. James. ed. The Correspondence of Michael Faraday. 1. INSPEC, Inc.. ISBN 0-86341-248-3.  – volume 2, 1993; volume 3, 1996; volume 4, 1999
• Faraday, Michael (2008). Alice Jenkins. ed. Michael Faraday's Mental Exercises: An Artisan Essay Circle in Regency London. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press. 
• Course of six lectures on the various forces of matter, and their relations to each other London; Glasgow: R. Griffin, 1860.
• The liquefaction of gases Edinburgh: W. F. Clay, 1896.
• The letters of Faraday and Schoenbein 1836–1862. With notes, comments and references to contemporary letters London: Williams & Norgate 1899.

See also[link]

Michael Faraday's grave at Highgate Cemetery

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Michael Faraday

• Faraday rotator
• Homopolar generator
• Faraday (Unit of electrical charge)
• Farad (Unit of electrical capacitance)
• Forensic engineering
• Lines of force
• Zeeman effect
• Timeline of hydrogen technologies
• Timeline of low-temperature technology
• Faraday paradox
• Hans Christian Ørsted
• Faraday cage

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Biographies[link]

• Bence Jones, Henry (1870). The Life and Letters of Faraday. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Company. http://books.google.com/?id=YzuCdNmu5soC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Faraday. 
• Cantor, Geoffrey (1991). Michael Faraday, Sandemanian and Scientist. Macmillian. ISBN 0-333-55077. 
• Gladstone, J. H. (1872). Michael Faraday. London: Macmillan. http://books.google.com/?id=pbs4AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Faraday. 
• Hamilton, James (2002). Faraday: The Life. London: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-00-716376-2. 
• Hamilton, James (2004). A Life of Discovery: Michael Faraday, Giant of the Scientific Revolution. New York: Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6016-8. 
• Hirshfeld, Alan W. (2006). The Electric Life of Michael Faraday. Walker and Company. ISBN 978-0-8027-1470-1. 
• Thompson, Silvanus (1901). Michael Faraday, His Life and Work. London: Cassell and Company. ISBN 1-4179-7036-7. http://books.google.com/?id=HKf5g3qYYz8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Silvanus+Thompson+faraday. 
• Tyndall, John (1868). Faraday as a Discoverer. London: Longmans, Green, and Company. http://www.archive.org/details/faradayasdiscove00tyndrich. 
• Williams, L. Pearce (1965). Michael Faraday: A Biography. New York: Basic Books. 
• The British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers Association (1931). Faraday. R. & R. Clark, Ltd., Edinburgh, 1931.
• Agassi, Joseph (1971). Faraday as a Natural Philosopher. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 
• Ames, Joseph Sweetman (Ed.) (c1900). The Discovery of Induced Electric Currents. 2. New York: American Book Company. 
• Gooding, David (Ed.) (1985). Faraday Rediscovered: Essays on the Life and Work of Michael Faraday, 1791–1867. London/New York: Macmillan/Stockton. 
• Thomas, John Meurig (1991). Michael Faraday and the Royal Institution: The Genius of Man and Place. Bristol: Hilger. ISBN 0-7503-0145-7. 
• Russell, Colin A. (Ed. Owen Gingerich) (2000). Michael Faraday: Physics and Faith (Oxford Portraits in Science Series). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511763-8. 

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Michael Faraday

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Michael Faraday

Biographies[link]

• Biography at The Royal Institution of Great Britain
• Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall, Project Gutenberg (downloads)
• The Christian Character of Michael Faraday
• Michael Faraday on the British twenty-pound banknote
• The Life and Discoveries of Michael Faraday by J. A. Crowther, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1920

Others[link]

• Michael Faraday's announcement of ether as an anaesthetic in 1818
• Interactive Java Tutorial on Faraday's 1821 Motor National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
• Interactive Java Tutorial on Faraday's Ice Pail Experiment National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
• "Faraday" at LoveToKnow 1911 Britannica Online Encyclopedia
• Michael Faraday at the Open Directory Project
• Works by Michael Faraday at Project Gutenberg (downloads)
• "Experimental Researches in Electricity" by Michael Faraday Original text with Biographical Introduction by Professor John Tyndall, 1914, Everyman edition.
• Video Podcast with Sir John Cadogan talking about Benzene since Faraday
• The letters of Faraday and Schoenbein 1836–1862. With notes, comments and references to contemporary letters (1899) full download PDF
• A Short History of Trinity Buoy Wharf at the Trinity Buoy Wharf website
• Faraday School, located on Trinity Buoy Wharf at the New Model School Company Limited's website
• Michael Faraday: The Invention of the Electric Motor and Electric Generator