Transformers- Laurence B.

Transformer were originally invented by Michael Faraday, long before Westinghouse began to work with them. Faraday took a soft piece of iron bar and wrapped a piece of insulated wire around it, the primary, then he wrapped a second insulated wire around the first. The result was a difference in voltage of the two wires. Depending on how many times the wire was wrapped around the iron. Many coils would step the voltage up, few coils would step the voltage down. This is the basic idea of a transformer. The plant where the electricity is created needs to push out high amounts of power so that it will reach whatever distance it needs. The issue lies in that the high power that the plant puts out, is too much for charging our iPods and running our coffee pots. So the transformers job is to transform the high voltage, high power energy that the plant gives off, into lower voltage power that is safe for our coffee pots and iPods.

A metaphor for this is a group project. The teacher (power plant) sends out a large assignment that has to be completed, the large assignment is received by the group of students (step-down transformer), and then broken down into smaller, more feasible tasks. One student (device) could not handle the huge amount of work (power) alone, and so it is stepped down and distributed into pieces. This way, one student does not get an overload and combust, and the teacher still gets the completed assignments.

How Transformers Work-Keya Z.

Transformers were first known as a “secondary generator”. It steps down higher AC voltages to those low enough to run individual incandescent lights. It was a new way to economically transfer electricity not just to individual light bulbs, but over long distances. The transformer ought to be able to step down the high-voltage AC safely before it entered the factory or office building or house. The first transformer was created by Michael Faraday. In a transformer, the “primary” is the copper wire that is fed electric current, generating a magnetic field. the “secondary” is the copper wire that intercepts the primary’s field of force. The two interact, self-inducing vltage. In an effective transformer, the two coils of cpper wire must be coupled perfectly to create high self-induction. Then a whole new design emerged that could be cheaply produced by machines: H-shaped iron plates that could be machine stamped now formed the core. The horinzontal part of the H would pass through the copper wire coils that could be machine wound and would serve as the primary and secondary. The ends were closed by means of I-shaped plates.