ELECTRICITY Glossary

 The information on this page is likely used in the gossamer articles  and packets and links generally connect in both . 

The information is generally sourced from a mix of old and new books, encyclopedia, etc.  Many old books written for schools and students in the late 19th and early 20th century are a favorite go to for ease of understanding and simpler presenation. 

ACCUMULATOR, or Condenser.:

A term often applied to an apparatus called a Leyden Jar or Condenser, which per-
mits the collection from an electric source of a greater charge than it would otherwise be capable of giving.
The ability of the source to give an increased charge is due
to the increased capacity of a plate or other conductor when
placed near another plate or conductor.

Accumulator, storage or Secondary Cell.:

Two inert plates dipping into a liquid incapable of acting
chemically on either of them until after the passage of an
electric current, when they become capable of furnishing an
independent electric current.

ADHESION:

The attraction that exists between unlike molecules.

AFFINITY,

-Chemical Affinity; 

Atomtc attractions.  The force that causes atoms to umte and form chemical molecules  more detail

-Electron Affinity;

The electron affinity is defined as the amount of energy released when an electron is added to a neutral atom or molecule in the gaseous state to form a negative ion.

ANODE

The anode is the positive electrode [see below] by which an electric current enters a conductor.  The conductor may be liquid, a gas, or a solid.  The anode may be a terminal post as in a storage battery, a prong as in a radio or television tube, or a plate of impure copper as in the electrolytic refining of copper.  The anode is ALWAYS positively charged.  This is why the anode attracts the negatively charged ions or anions.  It is at the anode that the anions give up their electrons and become oxidized.

source  -Young Peoples Science Encyclopedia  published 1970

CATHODE

A cathode is a negatively charged terminal point of an electrical circuit.  In electrolysis [see below] the conductors that dip into the solution are called electrodes instead of terminals.  The cathode is the negative electrode whereby the current enters the solution.  The cathode's counterpart is the positively charged anode where the current leaves the solution and electrons enter the wires, to flow back to the cathode.  Similarly, electron tubes contain a small metal cathode that accepts electrons from the circuit.  It in turn emits an electron stream tot he anode in order to conduct the electrical current neccessary for the tube's operation.  In a simple voltaic cell the cathode may be just a zinc bar.                  source  -Young Peoples Science Encyclopedia  published 1970

extended articles       electricity  VOLTA

CHEMISTRY

The science that deals with what the earth and the universe are made of.  The material that makes up the universe is called matter.  Chemistry is the science of what matter contains and how matter changes.

COMPOUND SUBSTANCE

CONDUCTOR -of Electricity:

Lets just say that in the invisible electrical world of all matter, all the physical material world, the stuff, is either a conductor or an insulator from the electron point of view.  The kind of stuff, such as copper or gold and other metals, that contain a lot of free electrons, -free because they can move around and travel from one atom to another, this material stuff conducts electricity and because of this is called electrical conductors. 

Pretty much like a train conductor gets everyone on the train and then takes them somewhere.  Electrical Conductors move electricity, which is the free to move electrons, the tiny particles inside an atom.

  The stuff that doesn't allow electrons to move around is the electrical insulators, such as plastic or glass.  That is the short version of conductors and insulators.  -   extended article

ELECTRICITY

"The name given to the unknown thing, matter, or force, or both, which is the cause of electric phe-nomenon.  Electricity, no matter how produced, is believed to be one
and the same thing.  The terms frictional electricity, pyro-electricity, magneto electricity, voltaic or galvanic electricity, thermo-electricity, contact electricity, animal or vegetable electricity, etc., etc., though convenient for distinguishing their origin, have no
longer the significance formerly attributed to them as representing different kinds of the electric force."      -an 1889  dictionary of electrical words

"Electric charge is one of those things that can be measured, thought about, and used, but cannot be defined in terms of anything simple.   - Young Peoples Science Encyclopedia  published 1970

"Electricity is the flow of electrical power or charge. Electricity is both a basic part of nature and one of the most widely used forms of energy.  The electricity that we use is a secondary energy source because it is produced by converting primary sources of energy such as coal, natural gas, nuclear energy, solar and wind energy into electrical power. Electricity is also referred to as an energy carrier, which means it can be converted to other forms of energy such as mechanical energy or heat."    - eia.gov  the U.S. Energy Information Administration

ELECTRODE

a conductor through which electricity enters or leaves an object, substance.  Electrode,  and similarly an-ode and cath-ode derive from the Greek hodos - way- ie.. cathode may refer to the way out...

ELECTROLYSIS

Many molecules in a solution or fluid stae may be easily separated into positive and negative particles or groups of particles called ions.  When positive and negativeelectrical charges are placed at two different points within the fluid the positive ions migrate to the negative charge and the negative ions go to the positive charge.  In this way each ion neutralizes some of the charge placed in the fluid. 

The ions in this process recombine with the opposite ions to form new molecules.

source  -Young Peoples Science Encyclopedia  published 1970

ION

Basically an ion is an atom, or molecule, that is not neutral.  It is either (+) or (-) in electrical charge.

An ion is an atom or molecule with an electric charge - either positive or negative.  A neutral atom is not charged because it contains an equal number of positive and negative particles- thereby neutral.

"When an electron is pulled off a neutral atom, the particle which remains is a positively charged ion.  Similarly, when an electron is added to a neutral atom the particle formed is negatively charged, a negative ion, because there is then a surplus of negative electrons."         source-Young People's Science Encyclopedia  published 1970

see also -The Elements of chemistry That Matter

STANDING WAVE

A wave that oscillates, moves back and forth, in time but not space