Download Where did it all begin?

The
discovery
of
electricity
<Where did it all begin?>
Around 500 BC Greeks found that by
rubbing an “electron” (a hard fossilized
resin that today is known as “amber”)
against a fur cloth, it would attract particles
of straw. This strange effect remained a
mystery for about 2000 years, when around
AD 1600 Dr William Gilbert investigated
reactions of amber and magnets. The word
“electricity” was first recorded by Gilbert in a
report on the theory of magnetism.
1
The discovery of electricity fact
sheets reviewed and updated with
the assistance of STAV Publishing
Gilbert’s experiments led a number of
investigations by many pioneers in the
development of electrical technology over
the next 350 years.
Over the past 150 years scientists have
found out how to generate and distribute
electricity on a large scale. Today electricity
is available to all Victorian homes, factories
and businesses.
print
friendly
<Famous scientists>
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning and the spark from amber was one
and the same thing. In 1752, Franklin fastened an iron spike to a silken kite
holding the end of the kite string by an iron key. Lightning flashed, and a tiny
spark jumped from the key to his wrist.
The experiment proved Franklin’s theory, but was much more dangerous than
he realised and he could easily have been killed.
In 1790, Luigi Aloisio Galvani, an Italian professor of medicine, found that
when the leg of a dead frog was touched by a metal knife which had been
lying next to an electrical machine, the leg twitched violently.
<Galvani> thought that the muscles of the frog must contain electricity, but
another Italian scientist, Alessandro Volta, solved the mystery of the jerking leg.
Alessandro Volta
<Volta> realised the main factors of Galvani’s discovery were the two
different metals concerned—the steel of the knife and the tin plate
upon which the frog was lying. He showed that when moisture comes
between two different metals, electricity is created. This led him to invent
the first electric battery, which he made from thin sheets of copper and zinc
separated by paper soaked in acid.
In this way, a new kind of electricity was discovered, electricity that flowed
steadily like a current of water instead of discharging itself in a single spark or
shock. Volta showed that electricity could be made to travel from one place
to another by wire. The unit of electric potential, the Volt, is named after Volta.
However, the credit for producing or generating current electricity on a
practical scale goes to the famous English scientist Michael Faraday.
Michael Faraday
Faraday was greatly interested in the invention of the electro-magnet,
but his brilliant mind took earlier experiments still further.
If electricity could produce magnetism, he asked himself, why couldn’t
magnetism produce electricity?
In 1831, Faraday found the solution. Electricity could be produced through
magnetism by motion.
2
Faraday discovered that when a magnet is moved inside a coil of copper
wire, a tiny electric current flows through the wire. Faraday’s electric dynamo
or generator was small and crude, and provided only a small electrical current
by today’s standards. But he discovered the first method of generating
electricity by means of motion in a magnetic field.
print
friendly
<Famous scientists> continued
Thomas Edison
Nearly 40 years went by before a really practical generator was
built by Thomas Alva Edison in America. Edison used it to produce
electric current to light his laboratory and later to supply the necessary
current for the first New York street to be lit by electric lamps in
September 1882.
Yet Edison’s dynamo or generator, was a mere toy compared with the
powerful generators installed in modern power stations.
James Watt
James Watt, Scottish inventor of the modern steam condensing
engine, was born in 1736. His improvements to steam engines were
patented over a period of 15 years starting in 1769.
Thermal power stations continue to use the principles of the steam
engine developed by Watt and his immortality is assured by his name
being used for the electric unit of power.
James Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist, was born with an inquiring
mind. Dissatisfied with the toys he was given, the youngster made his
own scientific toys at the age of eight!
In 1846, when Maxwell was 15, he delivered his first scientific paper.
His best known work is a treatise on electricity and magnetism
published in 1873. He made the discovery that founded the electromagnet theory of light. It is to Maxwell’s electrical researches that the
advent of radio is due. He died in 1879 at the age of 48.
3
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friendly
<Famous scientists> continued
Andre Ampere
Andre Marie Ampere (1775-1836) was the first to explain the electrodynamic theory. He was a French mathematician who devoted himself
to the study of electricity and magnetism. A permanent memorial to
Ampere is the use of his name for the unit of electric current.
George Ohm
George Simon Ohm’s name has been given to the unit of electrical
resistance. Go to <www.corrosion-doctors.org/Biographies/OhmBio.htm>
to find out about George Ohm.
Nikola Tesla
Tesla identified inefficiencies with Edison’s direct current.
He believed an <Alternating Current> (AC) was more efficient.
Go to <www.teslasociety.com/ac.htm> to find out more about
Nikola Tesla.
Further information
Ohm’s law
<http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/elect_ohms_law.htm>
History of electricity
<http://www.ideafinder.com/features/smallstep/electricity.htm>
History of the light bulb
<http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story074.htm>
<http://www.maxmon.com/1878ad.htm>
Compact fluorescent lighting
<http://www.aceee.org/press/op-eds/op-ed1.htm>
<Electric Sparks
activity>
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friendly
4
Electric Sparks
5
These people are all famous for their contributions to the understanding
of electricity and magnetism.
Can you identify them from the clues below?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Across
2. Who lit up the 1883 World Expo
in Chicago?
4. The Scottish discoverer of
electromagnetism
5. Dead frogs can jump
9. A passion for trains and engines
10. The unit of electric current
is named after this French
mathematician
11. Kites can be very dangerous!
12. How much current passes per
second?
Down
1. Who wrote, “De Magnete”
in 1642?
3. The inventor of the original
battery
6. His name became a symbol of
resistance
7. He powered the first New York
street in 1882.
8. A bookbinder by trade, he
discovered how to produce
electricity from magnets.
<Crossword
solution>
Electric Sparks
Solution
1
2
N
W
I
K
O
L
A
T
E
S
L
A
3
L
4
J
A
M
E
S
C
L
E
R
K
M
A
X
W
E
L
I
5
L
U
I
6
G
I
J
A
A
L
V
A
L
E
N
I
S
E
M
S
O
G
A
I
N
M
L
D
7
R
9
G
A
T
8
G
H
E
O
I
B
R
O
M
C
E
O
H
A
H
R
V
T
O
M
E
S
W
E
L
D
L
T
I
F
A
10
O
B
E
T
E
S
11
A
N
A
N
D
R
E
A
M
P
E
R
E
M
I
N
F
R
A
N
K
L
I
N
R
L
E
S
C
O
U
L
O
M
B
R
J
A
D
12
C
H
A
Y
6
Activity written by Michaela Patel
on behalf of STAV Publishing.
<Where did it all begin?>
Around 500 BC Greeks found that
by rubbing an “electron” (a hard
fossilized resin that today is known
as “amber”) against a fur cloth, it
would attract particles of straw. This
strange effect remained a mystery for
about 2000 years, when around AD
1600 Dr William Gilbert investigated
reactions of amber and magnets. The
word “electricity” was first recorded
by Gilbert in a report on the theory of
magnetism.
Gilbert’s experiments led a number of
investigations by many pioneers in the
development of electrical technology
over the next 350 years.
Over the past 150 years scientists
have found out how to generate
and distribute electricity on a large
scale. Today electricity is available
to all Victorian homes, factories and
businesses.
<Famous scientists>
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning and
the spark from amber was one and the
same thing. In 1752, Franklin fastened an
iron spike to a silken kite holding the end of
the kite string by an iron key. Lightning
flashed, and a tiny spark jumped from the
key to his wrist.
metal knife which had been lying next to an
electrical machine, the leg twitched violently.
<Galvani> thought that the muscles of the
frog must contain electricity, but another
Italian scientist, Alessandro Volta, solved the
mystery of the jerking leg.
Alessandro Volta
<Volta> realised the main factors of
Galvani’s discovery were the two different
metals concerned—the steel of the knife
and the tin plate upon which the frog was
lying. He showed that when moisture comes
between two different metals, electricity
is created. This led him to invent the first
electric battery, which he made from thin
sheets of copper and zinc separated by
paper soaked in acid.
In this way, a new kind of electricity was
discovered, electricity that flowed steadily
like a current of water instead of discharging
itself in a single spark or shock. Volta
showed that electricity could be made to
travel from one place to another by wire.
The unit of electric potential, the Volt, is
named after Volta.
However, the credit for producing or
generating current electricity on a practical
scale goes to the famous English scientist
Michael Faraday.
Michael Faraday
The experiment proved Franklin’s theory, but
was much more dangerous than he realised
and he could easily have been killed.
Faraday was greatly interested in the
invention of the electro-magnet, but his
brilliant mind took earlier experiments
still further.
In 1790, Luigi Aloisio Galvani, an Italian
professor of medicine, found that when
the leg of a dead frog was touched by a
If electricity could produce magnetism,
he asked himself, why couldn’t magnetism
produce electricity?
In 1831, Faraday found the solution.
Electricity could be produced through
magnetism by motion.
Faraday discovered that when a magnet
is moved inside a coil of copper wire, a
tiny electric current flows through the wire.
Faraday’s electric dynamo or generator was
small and crude, and provided only a small
electrical current by today’s standards.
But he discovered the first method of
generating electricity by means of motion in
a magnetic field.
Thomas Edison
Nearly 40 years went by before a really
practical generator was built by Thomas
Alva Edison in America. Edison used it
to produce electric current to light his
laboratory and later to supply the necessary
current for the first New York street to be lit
by electric lamps in September 1882.
Yet Edison’s dynamo or generator, was
a mere toy compared with the powerful
generators installed in modern power
stations.
James Watt
James Watt, Scottish inventor of the
modern steam condensing engine, was
born in 1736. His improvements to steam
engines were patented over a period of
15 years starting in 1769.
Thermal power stations continue to use
the principles of the steam engine developed
by Watt and his immortality is assured by his
name being used for the electric unit
of power.
The discovery of electricity
fact sheets reviewed and
updated with the assistance
of STAV Publishing
James Maxwell
George Ohm
James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist,
was born with an inquiring mind. Dissatisfied
with the toys he was given, the youngster
made his own scientific toys at the age of
eight!
George Simon Ohm’s name has been
given to the unit of electrical resistance.
Go to <www.corrosion-doctors.org/
Biographies/OhmBio.htm> to find out about
George Ohm.
In 1846, when Maxwell was 15, he delivered
his first scientific paper.
Nikola Tesla
His best known work is a treatise on
electricity and magnetism published in
1873. He made the discovery that founded
the electro-magnet theory of light. It is to
Maxwell’s electrical researches that the
advent of radio is due. He died in 1879
at the age of 48.
Andre Ampere
Andre Marie Ampere (1775-1836) was the
first to explain the electro-dynamic theory.
He was a French mathematician who
devoted himself to the study of electricity
and magnetism. A permanent memorial to
Ampere is the use of his name for the unit of
electric current.
Tesla identified inefficiencies with Edison’s
direct current. He believed an <Alternating
Current> (AC) was more efficient.
Go to <www.teslasociety.com/ac.htm>
to find out more about Nikola Tesla.
Further information
Ohm’s law
<http://www.school-for-champions.com/
science/elect_ohms_law.htm>
History of electricity
<http://www.ideafinder.com/features/
smallstep/electricity.htm>
History of the light bulb
<http://www.ideafinder.com/history/
inventions/story074.htm>
<http://www.maxmon.com/1878ad.htm>
Compact fluorescent lighting
<http://www.aceee.org/press/op-eds/oped1.htm>