Talk:Electricity

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Scientists originally coined the term "Electricity" to refer to positive and negative "charges of electricity." By this definition an electric current is a flow of electricity, the two kinds of electricity are called "positive" and "negative," and an electron is a particle of negative electricity (or more accurately, a carrier of negative electricity.)

Centuries later, the electric utility companies confused things by calling electromagnetic energy by the name "electricity." It's confusing because EM energy in an AC power system flows at nearly the speed of light, while the electrons (the negative electricity) inside the wires does not move forward, but instead just wiggles back and forth. So which thing is the electricity; the waves of energy, or the medium through which the waves can flow? It's confusing because a generator doesn't produce any electrons (so it doesn't produce any electricity,) yet the generator does produce EM energy. So it DOES produce electricity? Can't have it both ways! Unfortunately we started using one word to name two entirely different things.

Later still, science textbook authors confused things even more by saying that "electricity" was not the electrons and not the electrical energy, instead it was the MOTION of the electrons. According to these books, the two types of electricity are NOT positive electricity and negative, instead the two types are "static" and "current electricity." --Wjbeaty 20:05, 22 September 2005 (UTC)


This page need to be cleared, many things in this article is definitely incorrect. And what's with the "The following 7 definitions were contributed by Ed Brumgnach.", it's simply against wikipedia's concept. I'll try to clear it if I have time.