The Extraordinary Story of the Piezoelectric Effect

Posted: Apr 25, 2010 |Comments: 0 |

The piezoelectric effect was founded by Pierre Curies together with Jacques Curies in 1880. These two French physicists are brothers who only discovered that electricity can be produced by any piezoelectric materials but it was Gabriel Lippmann who found out that electricity can actually deform the materials. Although these are exciting discoveries, but the breakthrough was not until the early twentieth century that materials such as topaz, Rochelle salt, quartz, cane sugar and bone is known to have this effect in them.

The piezoelectric effect happens when the charge balance in the crystal lattice of a certain material has been distracted. When stress is not applied on the material, the positive and negative charges of the material will be evenly distributed all over. Thus, there is no possible difference between the two charges. The charge balance will create some difference when there are slight changes in the lattice. It can goes as high up as several thousand volts. On the other hand, the current will be a low one and can only cause a mild electric shock. The converse piezoelectric effect will only occurs when the electrical current create an electrostatic field that causes the atoms inside the material to shake slightly.

A tiny piezoelectric crystal can bear enough voltage that is able to create a spark that is sufficient to ignite gas. Many gas appliances such as grillers, hot water heaters, ovens and rooms heaters make used of these igniters. Moreover, the piezoelectric crystals are mostly used for watches and electronic clocks where it is essential for time maintenance and to produce the alarm noise. These include quartz clocks as well as the crystal used is commonly made from quartz. In this case, quartz is competent because it provides a natural frequency which is the perfect material to create oscillations to maintain accurate time. 

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