Electricity

Question 1

What was the first use of Chaudiere Island’s Waterpower Potential? What other reason was the usage important in this location?

Answer 1

A sawmill. The site had rapids which were a bottleneck for logs transiting the river. It was already situated at a place where logs were stopped, eliminating transportation costs

Question 2

How were logs historically transported around the Chaudiere rapids?

Answer 2

Timber slide

Question 3

What decades did mechanical work output from inanimate sources overtake animals?

Answer 3

1860s-1870s

Question 4

What decade did mechanical work output fro, animals start to decrease?

Answer 4

1920s

Question 5

What year was the Chaudiere sawmill built?

Answer 5

1806

Question 6

How did the Chaudiere sawmill cause problems?

Answer 6

Wood clippings from the sawmill clogged the Ottawa river. —The wood damaged ships and sunk to the bottom, forming a layer of sawdust which stifled vegetation and marine ecosystems. Recreational and occupational fishing was harmed. Additionally, the decomposing wood could produce natural gas and make noxious smells.

Question 7

What was the reaction to the sawmill pollution of the Ottawa river? Why was the reaction unsuccessful?

Answer 7

A fifty year legal and legislative battle to regulate the sawmill industry. The reaction was unsuccessful as the sawmills corporate interests were very powerful in Canada’s wood-based economy

Question 8

How was mechanical motion transferred in factories before electricity?

Answer 8

Repoes, belts and shafts which transferred mechanical motion physically

Question 8

What characterized early factories before electricity?

Answer 8

Close to source of power, narrow, tight, poorly lit, full of machinery, unsafe.

Question 9

How did electricity impact the factory interior?

Answer 9

Factories could have more spacious interiors by removing various mechanical devices, as well as incorporating more light from electric lighting or windows.

Question 10

What decade dd the electric motor overtake the steam engine as a source of mechanical drive in US manufacturing establishments?

Answer 10

1910s

Question 11

True or false; the internal combustion engine represented a significant source of power in US manufacturing by the 1930s

Answer 11

False. the impact was negligible.

Question 11

Did the steam engine grow or decline in US manufacturing usage from 1910 to 1940?

Answer 11

Declined

Question 12

When did steam engines become a major source of electrical power?

Answer 12

Late 19th century

Question 12

In 1869, steam engines were equivalent to what source of power in US manufacturing establishments?

Answer 12

Waterwheels and turbines

Question 13

What years was the steam engine dominant in US manufacturing

Answer 13

1870s-1910s

Question 13

How did engineers drive the early generators powering lighting?

Answer 13

Steam engines and hydropower

Question 14

What were the limitations of arc-lighting?

Answer 14

Burned out quickly, produced a lot of soot and sparks

Question 15

Which was more practical for business, the arc-light or the light-bulb?

Answer 15

light bulb

Question 15

What do we owe to Edison for bringing lights into homes and businesses?

Answer 15

-A systems approach
-an electric lighting network suitable for homes within a short distance of the power plant
-popularization of direct current

Question 16

What do we owe to Tesla and Westinghouse for bringing lights into homes and businesses?

Answer 16

-Dominance of alternating current (AC)
-large AC generators serving large areas
-poly-phase induction motors

Question 17

What is the difference between Alternating Current (AC) and Direct Current (DC)

Answer 17

Alternating current reverses direction of flow of electrical charge periodically while DC flows in the same direction

Question 18

Why did AC win out over DC?

Answer 18

AC current could more easily be transported long distances for cheaper

Question 18

Aside from industry, particularly wood, what did the Chaudiere rapids provide?

Answer 18

Power generation

Question 19

Why did waterpower initially have to be used locally?

Answer 19

limitations on the transfer of motion mechanically before electricity

Question 20

What was the only means of transferring power before electricity.

Answer 20

By converting power into a product locally

Question 21

When did water turbines attain efficiencies of 60-70%

Answer 21

1850s

Question 22

Where was the first hydroelectric plant and when did it open?

Answer 22

Appleton, Wisconsin in 1882

Question 22

What technology powered hydroelectric dams? Which less efficient technology did it replace?

Answer 22

the turbine, replacing the water wheel

Question 23

What current did the first hydroelectric power plant use?

Answer 23

DC

Question 24

What current was used in later hydroelectric plants? What did this allow?

Answer 24

AC. This allowed power produced by dams to be spread over further distances and form the bases of regional power grids

Question 25

How did Canada's hydroelectric output in 1928 compare to the hoover dam's initial output?

Answer 25

5 million Horsepower compared to 1.8 million HP, later upgraded to 3 million horsepower

Question 26

What component of Canadian geography facilitated the adoption of hydroelectricity?

Answer 26

Many hilly elevations with water flowing; Rocky Mountains out west

Question 27

Which dam in Canada was briefly the largest in the world? when and where was it built?

Answer 27

Queenston-Chippawa plant on the Niagara river; built in 1925

Question 27

Which dam in Canada was briefly the largest in the world? when and where was it completed?

Answer 27

Queenston-Chippawa plant; completed in 1925 on the Niagara river (0.6 Million HP)

Question 28

What are the environmental impacts of a dam

Answer 28

Dams require diverting rivers, then flooding a large reservoir to generate constant flow. This floods many inhabited areas and alters local water flow patterns.

Question 29

By the 1940s, what percentage of urban and rural residents had electricity?

Answer 29

90% in the urban, 10% in the rural

Question 30

What decade did hydroelectricity rapidly expand in Canada?

Answer 30

1920s

Question 31

Why was the city easier to electrify than the countryside?

Answer 31

The density of potential customers was far greater in the city. When electricity was fairly expensive, this allowed companies to pay off the initial costs of building central stations. The country did not have such benefits. Even if there was demand for electricity, the country could not afford it.

Question 32

How did governments rectify the urban-rural divide in electricity?

Answer 32

Sponsored large projects (Hydro Ontario, Hydro Quebec)

Question 32

How did governments rectify the urban-rural divide in electricity?

Answer 32

Sponsored large projects to help electrify the countryside --

Question 33

How did governments rectify the urban-rural divide in electricity?

Answer 33

Sponsored large projects to help electrify the countryside. --These included encouraging electricity coops of citizens (Quebec), --Establishing state agencies (Hydro Ontario, Hydro Quebec) to build infrastructure and connect the country to the power grids.

Question 34

What was the political impact of unequal electrification of the city and countryside

Answer 34

Caused political tension; governments ran on platforms of electrification

Question 35

What animal was said to have caused the 1876 Chicago fire? How?

Answer 35

A cow was said to have kicked over an oil lamp

Question 36

What imbalance prompted electric companies to promote other household electric goods

Answer 36

For central stations, demand for lighting peaked at night and fell far below during the day. This needed to be balanced

Question 36

How did household electrical appliances initially fit into the house's power supply?

Answer 36

They were plugged into the light socket, This was later fixed to allow you to vacuum without having to unscrew a light bulb

Question 37

What was the entry point of other electrical appliances in the household?

Answer 37

The power supply for electric lighting

Question 38

What industry did many electrical inventors and engineers of the late 19th century originate in? Why?

Answer 38

The telegraph industry. This provided a sort of training ground for practical electricity knowledge

Question 39

How did Thomas Ahearn come to work for the Bell company? When did this incident occur?

Answer 39

in 1877 Ahearn replicated Bell's telephone with a line from Pembroke to Ottawa based on information published in the Scientific American/ He was threatened by Bell for patent infringement, but rather than go out of business he ended up managing the first Ottawa branch of the Bell company

Question 40

With which telegraph-trained partner did Thomas Ahearn establish a store with on Spark Street in 1881?

Answer 40

Warren Y. Soper

Question 41

With which telegraph-trained partner did Thomas Ahearn establish a store with on Spark Street.

Answer 41

Warren Y. Soper

Question 42

How did Ahearn and Soper demonstrate arc lights in Ottawa?

Answer 42

They drew power from generators powered by a small waterwheel at Chaudiere falls

Question 43

When did Ahearn and Soper first demonstrate incandescent lights at uOttawa?

Answer 43

1883

Question 43

When were electric lights first introduced to Ottawa? by Whom?

Answer 43

1882 by Thomas Ahearn and Warren Y. Soper

Question 44

Why were locomotives impractical for public transit within cities?

Answer 44

In a narrow, small urban environment... 1) The large capacity of cargo/passengers was unnecessary 2) Their high speeds were unnecessary 3) Their high speeds could cause accidents 4) They created a lot of noise 5) They created a lot of smoke

Question 45

What were the disadvantages associated with horse-drawn public transit?

Answer 45

1) Horses could be slow 2) Horses produced a lot of manure 3) The wheels on carriages were noisy 4) Horses needed food and lodging 5) The driver could not be the ticket controller

Question 46

What is a charabanc?

Answer 46

Smallest form of horse-drawn public transit. Essentially a horse drawn carriage with an exposed passenger compartment, multiple benches. Two horses; used wheels.

Question 47

What was an omnibus?

Answer 47

A larger charabanc with an enclosed passenger compartment and an upper deck for passengers. Wheels. Three horses.

Question 48

How did a streetcar differ from an omnibus?

Answer 48

Streetcars used wheels while omnibuses used rails.

Question 49

How did a streetcar differ from an omnibus?

Answer 49

Streetcars used wheels while omnibuses used rails.

Question 49

How were omnibuses adapted to Canadian conditions?

Answer 49

Given sleds.

Question 50

What decade did electric streetcars spread?

Answer 50

1890s

Question 51

What were some of the specialized electric streetcars that emerged after the 1890s?

Answer 51

Mail, police work, carrying bodies of Spanish flue victims

Question 52

Frank J. Sprague did what in 1888?

Answer 52

Demonstrated the city-wide distribution of electric power to streetcars in Richmond, Virginia

Question 53

What effect did demand for electric streetcars have on demand for electricity?

Answer 53

increased demand and fostered the building of new power plants

Question 54

When did Toronto get its first electric streetcar? When did the last horse-cars get phased out?

Answer 54

1892; 1894

Question 55

Before Sprague, what were electric streetcars mostly used as?

Answer 55

One-off curiosities at exhibitions. Sprague's demonstration showed how power could be distributed to a city-wide system

Question 56

What were Canadian adaptations to streetcars?

Answer 56

Employing snow-shovelers or installing snow-ploughs on the streetcars

Question 57

In what year was Ottawa's first electric streetcar line opened? By whom?

Answer 57

1891 by the Ottawa Electric Railway, backed by Ahearn and Soper

Question 58

When was Ottawa mail first carried by streetcar?

Answer 58

1894

Question 59

When did Ottawa's last streetcar run?

Answer 59

1959

Question 59

What year did Ottawa open its new electric railway

Answer 59

2019

Question 60

In what period were electric railways prevalent?

Answer 60

Interwar period

Question 61

Why were electric railways prevalent in the early 20th century?

Answer 61

1) They had developed enough to be able to power locomotives and pull cars 2) They produced no fumes which could be crucial in North America, which was great in tunnels

Question 62

Why did Canadian Northern Railways begin a 5.2 km railway tunnel in Montreal under Mount Royal in 1913?

Answer 62

To reach a downtown terminal where other routes had been taken by other companies or other neighbourhoods. These could not be bought up.

Question 63

Which company opened the railway tunnel under Mount Royal? Why?

Answer 63

Canadian National in 1918 (Canadian Northern Railways went bankrupt from this project, was nationalized to become Canadian National)

Question 64

What kind of train did Canadian Northern Railways and the company that opened the tunnel under Mount Royal use?

Answer 64

An electric train

Question 65

What period did interurban railways use electric propulsion to carry passengers over short distances between cities or suburbs?

Answer 65

1900-1930

Question 66

What propulsions were in use before and after electric trains

Answer 66

Steam, then diesel

Question 67

Why did interurban railways decline?

Answer 67

The rise of the automobile, competition from buses and coaches and the construction of roads and highways.