SPEED OF ELECTRICITY

Speed of electricity

Free electrons in a conductor material are pulled from one atom to another one and so on. By moving that extremely short distances in the case of being forced through electricity, the electricity itself develops a speed of around 320,000 km/h.

As the electrons are moving they temporarily rotate around each new centre. We already know an electron carries a negative charge of electricity and so the electron flow (current flow) is assumed to be from negative to positive.

Electron drift

The rate of drifting of the free electrons from atom to atom determines the amount of current. To create a drift of electrons through a circuit we must have an electrical pressure, the voltage. The more electrons the stronger the current.

That means i.e. in the case of a starter battery, the greater the concentration of electrons at a battery, the higher the pressure between the electrons and the greater that pressure is, the greater is the flow of electrons.

Volts, Amperes, Ohms, Watts

The pressure between the electrons, namely voltage, is measured in volts (V).

One unit of volt is the Potential Difference (P. D.) between two points of a conductor by a constant current flow of one ampere (1 A) when the power dissipated between these points is equal to one watt (1W).

The flow of electrons, the current, is measured in ampere (A).

One unit of ampere is that constant current (I) that (if maintained in two parallel rectilinear conductors of infinite length of negligible cross section and placed at a distance of one meter apart in vacuum) would produce between the (these) conductors a force equal to 2 × 10−7 Newton per meter length.

Opposing the flow of electrons is the resistance of the conductors measured in ohms (?).

One unit of electrical resistance (R) is the resistance between two points of a conductor if a constant

Potential Difference of one volt (1 V) applied between these points produces a current of one ampere (1A) and the conductor isn’t the source of an electromotive force.

Some materials offer a bigger resistance to the electron flow than others. For example the resistance of iron is higher than the resistance of copper, but the resistance of silver is less than the one of copper.

Also the length and the size of a wire are important facts to look for in that case.

The electric power (P) is the product of voltage (E) and current (I) and is measured in watt (W).

P = E × I; (P = U × I)

Electrical loads such as i. e. electric motors, coils and bulbs will consume power.

Ohm’s Law

The Ohm’s Law is the understanding of the mathematical relationship between voltage (E), current (I)

and resistance (R) in an electrical circuit. Each and every one affects the other one.

All that is the same and that means:

The Potential Difference (PD = voltage) in a conductor is under constant conditions equal to the current flow multiplied with resistance (oppose directed to the current) of the conductor.

The current through a conductor under constant conditions is proportional to the difference of potential across the conductor.

Types of electrical circuits:

We do know three general types of electrical circuits:

Series circuit; Parallel circuit; Series−parallel circuit. For all circuits there are a need for an electricity source (battery), electrical equipment (switch, bulb, etc.) and electrical conductors (wires) to connect the equipment with the source.

Series circuit: The current passes from the power source to each device in turn and then flows back to the other terminal of the source (only one path has the current). The amount of current will be the same in all

parts of the circuit.

Parts of a simple electrical circuit:

− source of electricity

− switch

− cable

− consumer

Parallel circuit: One terminal of each device is connected to a common conductor, which leads to one

terminal of the source. There is more than one path for the current to flow and therefore each and every

path has a separate amount of current flow depending on the equipment by forcing a weaker current flow or

stronger one.

Parts of a circuit:

− one source of electricity

− cable and eventually cable connectors

− the quantity and kind of switches and consumer depends on the kind of the circuit

Series−parallel

Series−parallel circuit: Such kinds of circuits have electrical devices connected in series and others connected in parallel. That means we do have more than one path for the current to flow.

Measuring resistance

To find the total resistance (RT) of a series circuit is to add the resistance of each device.

This means as well, when a number of resistance’s are connected together in series the current is the same in every part of the circuit.

In series the P. D. (Potential Difference) across each resistance is in general different. The overall P. D.

is equal to the sum of all P. D. across the individual resistances

In a parallel circuit we do have more than one path for the current flow. Therefore the total resistance of all the devices will be less than the resistance of any single device. Resistance is the ability of any wire or electrical component to oppose the flow of current.

Conductance is the reciprocal (opposite) of resistance.

PORTRAIT OF A GOOD THINKER

1. Find a Place to Think Your Thoughts

If you go to your designated place to think expecting to generate good thoughts, then eventually you will

come up with some. Where is the best place to think? Everybody’s different. Some people think best in the

shower. Others, like my friend Dick Biggs, like to go to a park. For me, the best places to think are in my car, on

planes, and in the spa. Ideas come to me in other places as well, such as when I’m in bed. (I keep a special

lighted writing pad on my nightstand for such times.) I believe I often get thoughts because I make it a habit to

frequently go to my thinking places. If you want to consistently generate ideas, you need to do the same thing.

Find a place where you can think, and plan to capture your thoughts on paper so that you don’t lose them. When

I found a place to think my thoughts, my thoughts found a place in me.

2. Find a Place to Shape Your Thoughts

Rarely do ideas come fully formed and completely worked out. Most of the time, they need to be shaped

until they have substance. As my friend Dan Reiland says, they have to “stand the test of clarity and

questioning.” During the shaping time, you want to hold an idea up to strong scrutiny. Many times a thought that

seemed outstanding late at night looks pretty silly in the light of day. Ask questions about your ideas. Fine tune

them. One of the best ways to do that is to put your thoughts in writing. Professor, college president, and U.S.

senator S. I. Hayakawa wrote, “Learning to write is learning to think. You don’t know anything clearly unless you

can state it in writing.”

As you shape your thoughts, you find out whether an idea has potential. You learn what you have. You also

learn some things about yourself. The shaping time thrills me because it embodies:

Humor: The thoughts that don’t work often provide comic relief.

Humility: The moments when I connect with God awe me.

Excitement: I love to play out an idea mentally. (I call it “futuring” it.)

Creativity: In these moments I am unhampered by reality.

Fulfillment: God made me for this process; it uses my greatest gifts and gives me joy.

Honesty: As I turn over an idea in my mind, I discover my true motives.

Passion: When you shape a thought, you find out what you believe and what really counts.

Change: Most of the changes I have made in my life resulted from thorough thinking on a subject.

You can shape your thoughts almost anywhere. Just find a place that works for you, where you will be able to

write things down, focus your attention without interruptions, and ask questions about your ideas.

3. Find a Place to Stretch Your Thoughts

If you come upon great thoughts and spend time mentally shaping them, don’t think you’re done and can

stop there. If you do, you will miss some of the most valuable aspects of the thinking process. You miss bringing

others in and expanding ideas to their greatest potential.

Earlier in my life, I have to admit, I was often guilty of this error. I wanted to take an idea from seed thought

to solution before sharing it with anyone, even the people it would most impact. I did this both at work and at

home. But over the years, I have learned that you can go much farther with a team than you can go alone.

I’ve found a kind of formula that can help you stretch your thoughts. It says,

The Right Thought plus the Right People

in the Right Environment at the Right Time

for the Right Reason = the Right Result

This combination is hard to beat. Like every person, every thought has the potential to become something

great. When you find a place to stretch your thoughts, you find that potential.

4. Find a Place to Land Your Thoughts

Author C. D. Jackson observes that “great ideas need landing gear as well as wings.” Any idea that

remains only an idea doesn’t make a great impact. The real power of an idea comes when it goes from

abstraction to application. Think about Einstein’s theory of relativity. When he published his theories in 1905

and 1916, they were merely profound ideas. Their real power came with the development of the nuclear reactor

in 1942 and the nuclear bomb in 1945. When scientists developed and implemented Einstein’s ideas, the

whole world changed.

Likewise, if you want your thoughts to make an impact, you need to land them with others so that they can

someday be implemented. As you plan for the application phase of the thinking process, land your ideas first

with…

Yourself: Landing an idea with yourself will give you integrity. People will buy into an idea only after they

buy into the leader who communicates it. Before teaching any lesson, I ask myself three questions: “Do I believe it? Do I live it? Do I believe others should live it?” If I can’t answer yes to all three questions, then I haven’t landed it.

Key Players: Let’s face it, no idea will fly if the influencers don’t embrace it. After all, they are the people

who carry thoughts from idea to implementation.

Those Most Affected: Landing thoughts with the people on the firing line will give you great insight.

Those closest to changes that occur as a result of a new idea can give you a “reality read.” And that’s

important, because sometimes even when you’ve diligently completed the process of creating a thought,

shaping it, and stretching it with other good thinkers, you can still miss the mark.

5. Find a Place to Fly Your Thoughts

French philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson, who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1927, asserted that a

person should “think like a man of action—act like a man of thought.” What good is thinking if it has no

application in real life? Thinking divorced from actions cannot be productive. Learning how to master the

process of thinking well leads you to productive thinking. If you can develop the discipline of good thinking and

turn it into a lifetime habit, then you will be successful and productive all of your life. Once you’ve created,

shaped, stretched, and landed your thoughts, then flying them can be fun and easy.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Franklin was a statesman, diplomat, writer, scientist and inventor, one of the most versatile and talented men in colonial America and a leading figure in the American struggle for independence.

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on 17 January 1706. He attended school only briefly, and then helped his  father, who was a candle and soap maker. He was apprenticed to his brother, a printer, and began writing anonymously for his brother's newspaper. Franklin and his brother quarreled, and in 1723 Franklin ran away to Philadelphia. After 18 months in London, Franklin settled in Philadelphia, establishing himself as a printer. He bought the

'Pennsylvania Gazette', which he edited and which became one of the American colonies' major newspapers. He also wrote and published 'Poor Richard's Almanack', an astronomy journal.By 1748, Franklin had made enough money to retire from business and concentrate on science and inventing. His inventions included the Franklin stove and the lightning rod. He demonstrated that lightning and electricity are identical with his famous kite experiment. Franklin also became more active in politics. He was clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly (1736-1751), a member of the Assembly (1750-1764), and deputy postmaster for the Colonies (1753-1774), reorganizing the postal service to make it efficient and profitable.

Franklin was also involved in many public projects, including founding the American Philosophical Society, a subscription library and, in 1751, an academy which later became the University of Pennsylvania.

From 1757 to 1774, Franklin lived mainly in London where he was the colonial representative for Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. His attempts to reconcile the British government with the colonies proved fruitless. On his return to America, the war of independence had already broken out and he threw himself into the struggle. In 1776, he helped to draft, and was then a signatory to, the Declaration of Independence. His illegitimate son William, royal governor of New Jersey between 1762 and 1776, remained loyal to Britain, causing a rift that lasted for the rest of Franklin's life.  Later that year, Franklin and two others were appointed to represent America in France. Franklin negotiated the Franco-American Alliance which provided for military cooperation between the two countries against Britain and

ensured significant French subsidies to America. In 1783, as American ambassador to France, Franklin signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the American War of Independence. He was extremely popular and well known in France, but in 1785 returned to America. He continued to be deeply involved in politics, helping to draft the Constitution. Franklin died in Philadelphia on 17 April 1790.

BILL COSBY

Bill Cosby was one of America's best-loved TV stars, but his son's death in a drive-by shooting and court battles over alleged sexual assaults have left the family man's image in tatters.

William H. Cosby Jr. first took to the stage as a stand-up comedian while at college. By his early twenties, he had appeared in a number of television variety programmes including ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ and ‘The Johnny Carson Show’.

However, his big break came in 1965 when he appeared as Alexander Scott in ‘I Spy’, winning numerous Emmys for his  performance.

In 1969, he starred in his own series, ‘The Bill Cosby Show’. He was also one of the major characters on the children's television show ‘The Electric Company’ for its first two seasons, and created the humorous educational cartoon series ‘Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids’, about a group of young friends growing up in the city. Cosby also acted in numerous films, although none has received the acclaim of his television work. In 1984, ‘Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids’ stopped production, and ‘The Cosby Show’ commenced. This portrayal of a middle-class African-American family – the Huxtables - was originally rejected by ABC, accepted by a then-floundering NBC, and became an almost instant success. From 1985 to 1987 the show broke viewing records, with Cosby becoming a real driving force in US television during the 1980s.

‘The Cosby Show’ finally stopped production in 1992, conceding its dominant position to the cartoon series, ‘The Simpsons’. Cosby was also dissatisfied with the way ethnic minorities were portrayed on television. He produced the TV series ‘A Different World’ in 1987, which was set in a historically black college and concentrated on young people and education.

The late 1990s brought trouble for Cosby, first in early 1997 with the death of his only son, Ennis, who was shot to death in a random act of violence. Also that year, he was dragged into a court case that involved a young woman named Autumn Jackson who claimed that he was her biological father. Cosby admitted to an affair with Jackson's mother but denied fathering Jackson. She was convicted of extortion and sentenced to 26 months in prison.

Cosby has received a number of awards during his career and in October 2009, the comedian was presented with the 12th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humour.

HIGH FIVE’S OF THINKING

1. Find a Place to Think Your Thoughts

If you go to your designated place to think expecting to generate good thoughts, then eventually you will come up with some. Where is the best place to think? Everybody’s different. Some people think best in the shower. Others, like my friend Dick Biggs, like to go to a park. For me, the best places to think are in my car, on planes, and in the spa. Ideas come to me in other places as well, such as when I’m in bed. (I keep a special lighted writing pad on my nightstand for such times.) I believe I often get thoughts because I make it a habit to frequently go to my thinking places. If you want to consistently generate ideas, you need to do the same thing. Find a place where you can think, and plan to capture your thoughts on paper so that you don’t lose them. When

I found a place to think my thoughts, my thoughts found a place in me.

2. Find a Place to Shape Your Thoughts

Rarely do ideas come fully formed and completely worked out. Most of the time, they need to be shaped until they have substance. As my friend Dan Reiland says, they have to “stand the test of clarity and questioning.” During the shaping time, you want to hold an idea up to strong scrutiny. Many times a thought that seemed outstanding late at night looks pretty silly in the light of day. Ask questions about your ideas. Fine tune them. One of the best ways to do that is to put your thoughts in writing. Professor, college president, and U.S. senator S. I. Hayakawa wrote, “Learning to write is learning to think. You don’t know anything clearly unless you can state it in writing.”

As you shape your thoughts, you find out whether an idea has potential. You learn what you have. You also learn some things about yourself. The shaping time thrills me because it embodies:

Humor: The thoughts that don’t work often provide comic relief.

Humility: The moments when I connect with God awe me.

Excitement: I love to play out an idea mentally. (I call it “futuring” it.)

Creativity: In these moments I am unhampered by reality.

Fulfillment: God made me for this process; it uses my greatest gifts and gives me joy.

Honesty: As I turn over an idea in my mind, I discover my true motives.

Passion: When you shape a thought, you find out what you believe and what really counts.

Change: Most of the changes I have made in my life resulted from thorough thinking on a subject. You can shape your thoughts almost anywhere. Just find a place that works for you, where you will be able to write things down, focus your attention without interruptions, and ask questions about your ideas.

3. Find a Place to Stretch Your Thoughts

If you come upon great thoughts and spend time mentally shaping them, don’t think you’re done and can stop there. If you do, you will miss some of the most valuable aspects of the thinking process. You miss bringing others in and expanding ideas to their greatest potential. Earlier in my life, I have to admit, I was often guilty of this error. I wanted to take an idea from seed thought to solution before sharing it with anyone, even the people it would most impact. I did this both at work and at home. But over the years, I have learned that you can go much farther with a team than you can go alone. I’ve found a kind of formula that can help you stretch your thoughts. It says,The Right Thought plus the Right People in the Right Environment at the Right Time for the Right Reason = the Right Result

This combination is hard to beat. Like every person, every thought has the potential to become something great. When you find a place to stretch your thoughts, you find that potential.

4. Find a Place to Land Your Thoughts

Author C. D. Jackson observes that “great ideas need landing gear as well as wings.” Any idea that remains only an idea doesn’t make a great impact. The real power of an idea comes when it goes from abstraction to application. Think about Einstein’s theory of relativity. When he published his theories in 1905 and 1916, they were merely profound ideas. Their real power came with the development of the nuclear reactor in 1942 and the nuclear bomb in 1945. When scientists developed and implemented Einstein’s ideas, the whole world changed. Likewise, if you want your thoughts to make an impact, you need to land them with others so that they can someday be implemented. As you plan for the application phase of the thinking process, land your ideas first

with Yourself: Landing an idea with yourself will give you integrity. People will buy into an idea only after they buy into the leader who communicates it. Before teaching any lesson, I ask myself three questions: “Do I believe it? Do I live it? Do I believe others should live it?” If I can’t answer yes to all three questions, then I haven’t landed it.

Key Players: Let’s face it, no idea will fly if the influencers don’t embrace it. After all, they are the people who carry thoughts from idea to implementation.

Those Most Affected: Landing thoughts with the people on the firing line will give you great insight. Those closest to changes that occur as a result of a new idea can give you a “reality read.” And that’s important, because sometimes even when you’ve diligently completed the process of creating a thought, shaping it, and stretching it with other good thinkers, you can still miss the mark.

5. Find a Place to Fly Your Thoughts

French philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson, who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1927, asserted that a person should “think like a man of action—act like a man of thought.” What good is thinking if it has no application in real life? Thinking divorced from actions cannot be productive. Learning how to master the process of thinking well leads you to productive thinking. If you can develop the discipline of good thinking and turn it into a lifetime habit, then you will be successful and productive all of your life. Once you’ve created, shaped, stretched, and landed your thoughts, then flying them can be fun and easy.