Provide Discussion Reply (50-75 Words)

The Danish professor Hans Christian Oersted was the first person to discover electromagnetic force, which could be created by an electric current.  Although Andre-Marie Ampere was the first one to explain the relationship between electricity and magnetism, Oersted is the reason we have motors and actuators today (Sharkawi, 2012). 

As an electrical instrumentation specialist for a wastewater industry, I find Oersted’s discovery significant to electrical power.  As stated above this is the basis for the motor, actuators, and many other instruments I encounter every day.  There are so many ways that Oersted’s discovery of electricity and magnets are used such as electrodynamics and electromagnetic induction, and has led to the creation of transformers, light, radio waves and the electromagnetic spectrum, particle accelerators, maglevs, and electromagnets. 

Other applications of electricity and magnets are speakers, where a magnet pulls a cone back and forth to create sound waves.  Televisions use magnets to control electrons that are being forced across the screen.  The medical machine known as the “CAT scan” can detect electrical activity in a human and uses magnets to make an image out of it.  The final example is one that helps us understand ourselves better.  This is the human brain, and although it was not invented or discovered by Oersted, we now can better understand it.  The human brain in constantly creating electrical impulses to create actions within our bodies (Rod, 2017). 

References

El-Sharkawi, M. A. (2013). Electric energy: An introduction. Boca Raton: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group.

Roy, O. (2017, December 15). Electromagnetism - History, Theory and Applications! Retrieved March 11, 2019, from https://www.toppr.com/bytes/electromagnetism/