A Professor of Physics with Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, AbdelGaffar Amoka AbdelMalik, has identified energy as one of the most vital requirements for the socio-economic development of any country.
Prof. Amoka disclosed this at an inaugural lecture, ‘The Dirty Dielectrics: Imagine a World of Electricity Without It’, which he delivered at the University Assembly Hall, Main Campus, Samaru, Zaria on Wednesday, 31st July, 2024.
He noted that the growing population has caused the demand for an increase in power generation requirements.
Prof. Amoka explained that eectricity generation and operation are built around a safe insulation system., and that the increasing output means an increase in electrical stress on the insulation system, stressing that insulation systems play a vital role in the reliability of electric power systems and power electronics.
The Professor of Physics stated that insulation failure may result in system failure and ultimately system breakdown and costly repair, saying that as the electrical and electronic power system keeps evolving, so does the need to design insulation systems with the requirement to take care of the current power demands.
He said electricity has always been a part of nature in the form of static electricity but the discovery that an electric current could be produced by passing a magnet through a loop of copper wire.
Prof. Amoka argued that nearly all the electricity produced today is from giant power plants with magnets and copper coils, adding that the current is a flow of electrons, something called charges, per unit time in the conductor.
He said the human body contains various ions with the tendency to conduct electricity, which makes the human body a good conductor, and electrons can flow through it when in contact with a current-carrying conductor, reiterating that it is dangerous and can cause electric shock, basically a mini feeling of current passing through the body.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the occasion, Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kabiru Bala, congratulated the inaugural lecturer for contributing to knowledge, mentoring other young researchers and fulfilling one of his obligations as academic.
Prof. Bala described physics as the root of science, which according to him, disciplines like engineering would not have come into being without it.
In a remark, Dean, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Prof. Ibrahim Musa Jaro, thanked all those who attended the lecture and those who are unavoidably absent and wished everyone safe journey back to their various destinations.
