Let Us Talk About Stored Energy for a Moment

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Energy is around us in many different forms. In the electrical industry, we think of gravity, magnetism, hydropower, thermal power, chemical energy and so on. In physics, energy is the quantitative property that must be transferred to an object in order to perform work on, or to heat the object. Stored energy allows us to defer that moment, and so control our world.

The Significance of Stored Energy in Fire Pots

stored energy
Preparing Fire Pots: Colin Smith: CC 2.0

Early humans discovered how to release heat from carbon stored in wood 1.9 million years ago or thereabouts. This provided them with fires to stay warm at night, keep predators at bay, and purposefully cook meat to preserve it.

However, they had to start a fresh fire for every event, limiting fire’s usefulness. Then about ten thousand years ago, humans began carrying slow-burning fires in clay fire pots to seed new fires quickly and effectively. This portable thermal energy also helped keep them warm at night throughout the winter. Hence, having stored energy in fire pots was vital to the development of our civilization.

How Batteries Revolutionized Modern Society

stored energy
Napoleon Sees First Battery: Unknown Author: P Domain

The earliest electrical machines produced magnetism and sparks through mechanical means. However, the effect was transient and not much practical use outside a magician’s studio. Then in 1800, Alessandro Volta invented the first chemical battery.

For the first time ever, the Italian physicist had portable, stored energy he could carry around and demonstrate to his colleagues. This in turn enabled early electric cars, portable radios, and flashlights. Nowadays batteries power machines exploring the planets and the asteroids. Moreover, you could not be reading my words without a battery somewhere in your device.

Stored energy revolutionizes the lives of people with pacemakers, and helps deaf people hear clearly again. It has opened up a world where we can speak to anyone, almost anywhere in an instant. And to think this all began with a creative genius who created the first fire pot. Of small seeds do mighty trees grow!

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About Author

I tripped over a shrinking bank balance and fell into the writing gig unintentionally. This was after I escaped the corporate world and searched in vain for ways to become rich on the internet by doing nothing. Despite the fact that writing is no recipe for wealth, I rather enjoy it. I will not deny I am obsessed with it when I have the time. I live in Margate on the Kwazulu-Natal south coast of South Africa. I work from home where I ponder on the future of the planet, and what lies beyond in the great hereafter. Sometimes I step out of my computer into the silent riverine forests, and empty golden beaches for which the area is renowned. Richard

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