Etymology of electricity 1334769 222980056 2008-07-02T00:46:23Z Headbomb 1461430 death of Bacon is irrelevant In [[physics]] the term '''quantity of [[electricity]]''' refers to the quantity of [[electric charge]]. It is designated by the letter ''Q'' and in the [[SI]] system is measured in [[SI derived unit|derived]] units called [[coulomb]]s. == Historical drift == === Pre-English origins === The [[New Latin]] adjective ''electricus'', originally meaning 'of [[amber]]', was first used to refer to amber's attractive properties by [[William Gilbert]] in his 1600 text [[De Magnete]]. The term came from the classical Latin ''electrum'', amber, from the Greek ''ἤλεκτρον'' (''elektron''), amber.<ref>electric, ''adj.'' and ''n.'', Oxford English Dictionary, Draft Revision Mar. 2008</ref> The origin of the Greek word is unknown, but there is speculation that it might have come from a [[Phoenician]] word ''elēkrŏn'', meaning 'shining light'. The letter Q was used for electric charge instead of the letter E because the letter was already used to represent the electron. === Entry into English === The word ''electric'' was first used by [[Francis Bacon]] to describe materials like amber that attracted other objects.<ref>electric, ''adj.'' and ''n.'', Oxford English Dictionary, Draft Revision Mar. 2008</ref><ref>Bacon F, "Physiological Remains", before 1626, in ''Baconiana'' (1679)</ref> The first usage of the English word ''electricity'' is ascribed to [[Sir Thomas Browne]] in his 1646 work, ''[[Pseudodoxia Epidemica]]'': {{quote|Again, The concretion of [[Ice]] will not endure a dry attrition without liquation; for if it be rubbed long with a cloth, it melteth. But [[quartz|Crystal]] will [[wikt:calefie|calefie]] unto electricity; that is, a power to attract strawes and light bodies, and [[rotate|convert]] [[versorium|the needle]] freely placed|''Pseudodoxia Epidemica'', 1st edition, p. 51<ref>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/pseudo21.html#page53 Equivalent text in ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica'', 6th edition (1672), p. 53]</ref>}} In this context, an "Electrick" or "Electrick body" was a non-conductor, or an object capable of attracting "light bodies" (like bits of [[paper]]) when [[triboelectric effect|excited by friction]]; a piece of amber is "an Electrick", while a piece of iron is not. "Electricity", then, was simply the property of behaving like an electric, in the same way that "[[Elasticity (physics)|elasticity]]" is the property of behaving like an [[Elastomer|elastic]].<ref name="Heathcote">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1080/00033796700203316 | volume = 23 | issue = 4 | pages = pp. 261–275 | author = Niels H. de V. Heathcote | title = The early meaning of ''electricity'': Some ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica'' - I | journal = Annals of Science | accessdate = | year = 1967 | month = December }}</ref> ("Electric" continued to be used as a noun until at least 1913.)<ref>[http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?action=search&word=electric&resource=Webster%27s&quicksearch=on Definition of "electric"] — Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913 editions].</ref> It was not until later that the definition shifted to refer to the ''cause'' of the attraction instead of the property of being attractive.<ref>[http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?action=search&word=electricity&resource=Webster%27s&quicksearch=on Definition of "electricity"] — Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913 editions].</ref><ref name="Heathcote"/> ''Charge'', in the electrical sense, was first used in 1767.<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=charge etymonline listing for "charge"]<!-- this source may have errors --></ref> The term ''quantity of electricity'' was once common in scientific publications. It appears frequently in the writings of [[Benjamin Franklin|Franklin]], [[Faraday]], [[James Clerk Maxwell|Maxwell]], [[Robert Millikan|Millikan]], and [[J. J. Thomson]], and was even occasionally used by [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]]. However, over the last hundred years the term "[[electricity]]" has been used by electric utility companies and the general public in a non-scientific way. Today the vast majority of publications no longer refer to electricity as meaning electric charge. Instead they speak of electricity as [[electrical energy|electromagnetic energy]]. The definition has drifted even further, and many authors now use the word "electricity" to mean [[current (electricity)|electric current]] ([[ampere]]s), energy flow ([[watt]]s), [[electrical potential]] ([[volt]]s), or electric force. Others refer to any electrical phenomena as kinds of electricity. These multiple definitions are probably the reason that Quantity of Electricity has fallen into disfavor among scientists. Physics textbooks no longer define Quantity of Electricity or Flow of Electricity. Quantity of electricity is now regarded as an archaic usage, and it has slowly been replaced by the terms '''charge of electricity''', then '''quantity of [[electric charge]]''', and today simply '''charge'''. Since the term ''electricity'' has increasingly become corrupted by contradictions and unscientific definitions, today's experts instead use the term ''charge'' to remove any possible confusion. == Conceptual problems == {{Inappropriate tone|date=December 2007}} However, new problems arise when we attempt to fix earlier problems by replacing the term "electricity" with the term "charge." Older scientific papers still exist, and their authors constantly discuss quantities of electricity and flows of electricity (meaning charge and current respectively.) Those historical authors know that their readers understand just one definition: the term ''electricity'' means ''charge'' and nothing else. Modern students who read physics papers from periods prior to 1930 (approx.) should make a continuous effort to remain aware of this issue. If historical physicists discuss quantities of "electricity" implying "electric charge," yet the modern reader assumes they're speaking of [[electrical energy]], the writings of those physicists will be quite difficult to understand. Another problem arises because the population of physicists abandoned the term "electricity" without much public discussion and perhaps without much awareness on the part of their community. By silently altering the meaning of common and heavily-used terms, the scientific community caused an immense confusion on the part of the public. Whereas in the past the question "What is electricity?" was more or less easily answered, today the question itself has become meaningless. Is electricity a form of energy? Is electricity the same as electric charge? Is electricity nothing but a class of phenomena? Should we measure the quantity of electricity in coulombs, or should we instead use amperes, joules, or watts, or even volts? Physics texts and reference books supply no solid answer, since physicists have gradually abandoned electricity as a scientific term. And yet Quantity of Electricity still persists in its original definition in many contemporary references. For example, in the modern [[SI]] units of physics, the coulomb is defined both as the unit of electric charge and also the unit quantity of electricity. [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] defines the coulomb as the unit quantity of electricity. The Merriam-Webster dictionary, in definition 1a, defines electricity as charge. And until the late 1980s, the glossary in the ''[[CRC Press|CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics]]'' used the term "quantity of electricity" in place of "electric charge" in most of its definitions. Chemistry students will be familiar with Faraday's discovery that a unit quantity of electricity, when [[Faraday's law of electrolysis|passed through an electrolysis cell]], liberates a certain number of atoms of metal or gas. Under these definitions, electricity is not a form of energy. == References == {{reflist}} == External links == * [http://amasci.com/miscon/whatis.html What is electricity?] * [http://www.hbcpnetbase.com/ CRC Handbook] * [http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=electricity Merriam-Webster: Electricity] * [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9026554 Britannica: Coulomb] * [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9032271 Britannica: Electric Charge] * [http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A+electricity Google: define Electricity] [[Category:Electricity]] [[ar:كمية الكهرباء]] [[zh:电荷量]]