The Electric Evolution - From First Sparks to Lightning Speeds

According to the Announced Pledged Scenario from the Institute of Energy Analysis (IEA), by 2040 EVs will have found their way into 250 million driveways - an unprecedented figure!

Pedro Salom and Henry Morris, of Philadelphia, developed the Electrobat, an electric car which raced against gasoline Duryea cars in 1896. Unfortunately, its batteries were heavy and slow compared with those found on later electric models like EV1. But its design proved popular and sold numerous units during that year alone.

First Sparks

Early humans knew little of electricity. Instead, they simply witnessed its immense power - believing it to be caused by divine forces like Zeus of Greek mythology who sent lightning bolts from Mount Olympus or Thor from Norse mythology who would strike his mighty hammer against thunder clouds to produce thunder and lightning storms.

Humans have relied on lightning rods made of conductive metal for nearly 300 years to protect them against this powerful natural force, but now researchers have discovered evidence that many (if not all) flashes may actually be caused by fast positive breakdown - an entirely new type of electrical breakdown with bidirectional leader channels required to trigger it - potentially changing how they function altogether.

Second Sparks

Real world lightning occurs when two channels with different negative charges meet at an intersection: a channel called a "stepped leader," composed of negative charge that extends downward, meets with an oppositely charged streamer; these connections form an electrical current visible as bright flashes that make up what we refer to as lightning.

Recent simulations demonstrate that the initial breakdown in a thunderstorm may either be negative or positive; previously it had been assumed that negative breakdown was more frequent, but these new results indicate both are possible.

Sparks! 2022 will explore future technologies for health. Join us as we discuss this thrilling topic, as well as its possible effects on our daily lives. Additional details will soon be made available.

Third Sparks

As electrons and ions race around a gap, they create free positrons which accelerate to nearly light speed, leading to regions of air becoming electrically conductive through dielectric breakdown.

This leads to the formation of luminous structures known as lightning seeds or leader filaments, the length and brightness of which vary depending on frame-by-frame conditions and asymmetry in return stroke asymmetry.

Spark is surprised at Fark's calm reaction and admits he doesn't want to hurt him, provided he disbands Fark Force. He then goes on to explain that their journey had actually been part of Clarity's simulation loop and that Float, whom he spent so much time with was actually an artificial reproduction of herself; furthermore, her crew were all integrated into Clarity's system.

Fourth Sparks

POWER magazine has covered electric generation technology and business for 13 decades, but few periods have been as groundbreaking as 2010s. Electric generation was transformed in this decade while utilities faced new challenges that redefined its role.

Researchers remain uncertain as to exactly what triggers lightning, which consists of giant bursts of electricity that move vertically between clouds or between earth and sky, or upward or downward between clouds or between earth and sky. What they do know is that lightning usually involves an intense breakdown in virgin air which typically manifests itself through narrow bipolar pulses that forge paths between the clouds.

In this instance, a bidirectional lightning seed in virgin air first brightened, then accelerated four times (four acceleration events in Figure 6a) before connecting with another floating channel.

Fifth Sparks

In 1745, Pieter van Musschenbroek created the Leyden Jar, the first device capable of storing large amounts of electric charge.

We conducted an analysis of 34 laboratory long sparks using streak cameras and synchronized high-speed current and optical data. Our observations show that long positive laboratory sparks can exhibit streamer zones similar to natural lightning that gradually shrink before being replaced by weakly illuminated routes between different-polarity leaders; similar to what occurs during breakthrough phases.

At -13.6 milliseconds, a bidirectional leader seed first illuminated and rapidly developed into a channel extending at least 11 milliseconds before returning stroke onset. At that point, its left end began decaying while its right end transformed into an "improving cloud-to-ground leader with features of preliminary breakdown and stepwise leaders."