![interactions with matter](../../images/GrabItarrowrD.gif)
Electricity and electromagnetic
waves
Electric charges and currents with their
relative electromagnetic forces are no human invention! The entire material
world, from the microscopic to the macroscopic structure, depends on the
electric fields
of static electric charges and on the
electromagnetic
fields
produced by moving charges; such "fields " are the
"binding forces" of
the various components of matter itself.
Also the fundamental functions of
living organisms are governed by electric potentials of various kinds which allow for the "identification" of atomic and molecular structures and transmit electric and magnetic signals at different distances (dipolar structures ,
membrane
potentials , nervous signals, etc…).
The presence of "natural electricity" was discovered only
two centuries ago....While Galvani was studying animal tissues he found the
existence of animal electricity (fig. 1) and investigated the effects of
natural electromagnetic forces at a distance (lightning). Meanwhile
Volta was
working on his pile (fig. 2).
Artificial electricity was born (even though electrostatic phenomena were already known).
Only at the beginning of the 1900s, with
Marconi's discovery,
did the full phenomenal potential of electricity explode: long-distance signal broadcasting, "wireless telecommunication".
Electric power is very "convenient" as it is extremely versatile
and is the least polluting
energy in the place where it is used.
In a short space of time it has quickened the pace of economical and social development so much that it has become a concrete
indicator of a country's
civilization.
Nowadays, electric energy is a real necessity: it drives all the systems
that guarantee our well-being (heating, cooling, electrical appliances, lifts,
trains, radio, television, mobile phones, radar systems,
laser ,
all the appliances for diagnosis and therapy).
Energy consumption continues to increase, imposing faster and faster rhythms of production and distribution.
This means a progressive
increase in the impact on the local and global environment
(greenhouse effect ,
atmospheric and architectural
pollution ).
Among today's most urgent objectives we can highlight "system optimizations ",
minimizing energy loss and providing better services, all the while keeping a check on
exposure levels.
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