The Transformer is used in an AC (alternating current) system as a “secondary generator”.  The first transformer was created by Michael Faraday. The AC system uses very high voltages unlike the DC (direct current) system, and therefore must have a device that will lower those voltages to usable levels.  The Transformer steps in and lowers the voltages in the AC system in order to power small devices such as an individual incandescant light bulb.  The Transformer has a primary, and a secondary in it.  The primary is a copper wire that is fed electric current.  The electric current fed through the primary creates a magnetic field. The secondary is a copper wire that intercepts the primary’s field of force.  When the primary and the secondary interact, self-induction occurs. When the primary and the secondary are coupled just right a very high self-induction will occur.  At the time of Michael Faraday’s ground breaking transformer invention, no one quite understood how and why to couple the primary and secondary perfectly.  It took a man like George Westinghouse to realize the geneous of the transformer.  Westinghouse realized that the transformer could potentially revelutionize the world. As it turns out, Westinghouse was right.  The transformer plays a key role in the AC system and Michael Faraday invented one of the greatest electrical inventions in history.

Originally invented by Michael Faraday, the first transformer used two copper wires that interacted with each other. The “primary” wire created a magnetic filed while it was being fed an electric current. The “secondary” is a wire that intercepts the primary wire’s field of force. For both wires to work perfectly, they needed to be coupled correctly to create high self-induction. But many people at the time did not understand the potential for the transformer at the time. Transformers are a means of stepping down the voltage on a high supply of voltage. Mostly used in AC systems, Westinghouse would start to use the transformer so that he would be able to send rather high voltages over long distances and transformers would bring down the voltages so that they would be used in house-hold appliances and mostly light-bulbs. Westinghouse needed a new design for the transformer that could be more cheaply produced and after examining the Gaurlard-Gibbs generator, he would use the H shape plate inside, and wound the primary and secondary copper wires to produce and I shape plate and the first modern transformer.

Transformers are devices that change the voltage, pressure that drives electric currents, in an alternating current system. These are important if you want to distribute electricity over long distances. The transformer takes the electricity from a generator and “steps” it up to a high voltage, which can travel long distances. Where it is needed, a transformer is use to “step” down the high voltage to a usable voltage. In reality, it may be stepped up or stepped down a couple depending on how high the voltage is that you are working with. The way these transformers work is through electric self-induction. Electric self-induction is a consequence of a magnetic field in one circuit which may “induce” a current in a nearby circuit. In transformers two coils of copper wire are used to create the self-induction. If the number of coils in the first coil is less than the number of coils in the coil that is being “induced” then the voltage is going to increase as the difference in the number of coils increases. The opposite goes for lowering the voltage; the more coils there in the primary coil than the secondary coil, the lower the voltage in the secondary coil will be.

In class on Wed Oct 22nd, each group will split up and write an analysis of the strenths and weaknesses of the two intro paragraphs on the Wiki as well as propose revisions.

If you handed in the final copy of your Tesla paper on Mon, go to the assignment for next Wed (10-29) on the syllabus and/or Wiki and do reading and research on Westinghouse’s most important contributions and post what you have learned to the blog (checking Westinghouse and your name under categories.