Chemistry

Since its invention, electricity has become one of the most widely used utilities the world all over. Besides lighting, cooking, ironing, and keeping people warm in homes and offices, electricity forms the foundation of modern transport and telecommunication industries. Without electricity, computers, mobile and fixed telephones, radio systems, and televisions, the internet and a host of other peripheral services people have become accustomed to living with would not exist at all.

That is why if I woke up one morning into a world without electricity, I and the entire society would have to make radical changes and re-adjustments if life has to go on. First and foremost, electricity is the most common form of lighting in homes, offices, business premises and streets. The entire society and I would have to revert to other sources of lighting like paraffin lanterns or fires lit from dry wood. The same would also find ultimate use in cooking and in keeping warm in cold weather. Coal iron boxes would resurface as all electric ones would turn obsolete.

The foundation of modern digital communication is laid on electricity. A world without electricity would therefore mean a total absence of the internet, television and radio. We would therefore have to find alternative methods of communication. We would result to writing mail by hand to our families, friends and work colleagues. We would have to ask or wait for typewriter printed newspapers to know of current developments in governments and the society in general. In work and in school, we would result to manual drafting and filing of records, assignments, appointments and lecture notes.

Without the social networking supported by information technology, keeping in touch with friends would have to assume old-school methods like writing letters and visiting. The entertainment industry would undergo much change. Digital film would be non-existent, so people would result to attending stage plays, bullfights and other circus activities for entertainment. Electricity lights the streets. With darkness all over, insecurity would escalate and people would have to stay indoors after dark.