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The History of Electricity
The history of electricity started with the study of electrical
phenomena produced by stationary charges, or static electricity. It was
the Greeks who discovered that amber rubbed with fur, attracted light
objects like feathers. The word electric comes from the Greek elektron,
which means amber. William Gilbert, at the end of the 16th century,
investigated the relation between static electricity and magnetism. In
Ancient Greeks
1660, German Otto von Guericke made the first electrostatic generator knew rubbing amber
generated static
with a ball of sulfur and some cloth. Scientists began thinking of
electricity, but they
didn’t know why.
electricity as an invisible fluid and tried to capture and store it. Pieter
The Greek word for
van Musschenbroek of Leyden, Holland, in 1746,
amber is elektron.
wrapped a water-filled jar with metal foil (the Leyden
jar) and discovered that this simple device could store the energy
produced by an electrostatic generator. The Leyden jars were used in
other experiments.
A Leyden jar from
about the 1910s.
Courtesy: David
Rickert.
In 1752, Benjamin Franklin, with his famous kite experiment proved
the electrical nature of lightning. Many felt that lightning and static
electricity were the same thing because both crackled and produced
bright sparks. Franklin attached a key to a kite and flew it in a stormthreatened sky. When a thundercloud moved by, the key sparked. This
spark charged the Leyden jars and proved that lightning was really
electricity. Franklin established the conventional use of negative and
positive charges. Two broad classes of electrical materials were
recognized by the middle of the 18th century: insulators and conductors.
Count Alessandro Volta was the first person to generate electricity with a chemical
reaction. He invented the battery. He stacked metal disks separated
by layers of cardboard soaked in salt water. This voltaic pile
produced an electric current without being charged. Can you
imagine how big the Discman to put this battery in? The term volt is
named after him.
In 1820, Danish physicist Hans Oersted showed that whenever an
electric current flowed through a wire, a magnetic field around the
wire was produced. French mathematician Andre-Marie Ampere
came up with mathematical formula to describe the relationship
between electricity and magnetism. That is why the unit for current
is ampere (amp), named after Ampere.
In 1831, Michael Faraday discovered induction by moving a loop
of wire in a magnetic field and observing a current that flowed
Alessandro Volta’s
“pile.” Courtesy: Tempio
Voltiano.
through the loop. He made the induction ring. Electrical transformers use the principle
of the induction ring. Faraday also invented the electromagnetic generator as well as a
tiny electric motor.
In the 19th century, inventors were trying to find ways to use electromagnetism to run
machines like the steam engines and the waterwheels. An American Joseph Henry
wanted to find a practical use for electricity. In 1829, using a large battery he built an
electromagnet that could do heavy work, something people could use every day.
Frenchman Hippolyte Pixii, in 1832, used a magnet to
create a flow of current in wires. The current flowed first
in one direction and then in the opposite direction, called
an alternating current. Belgian Floris Nollet designed an
electromagnetic generator that could produce 50 volts.
His generator was the first to be mass produced to be
used in electroplating. A motor, powered by batteries
and capable of running a printing press was designed by
Thomas Davenport, in 1834. It took 50 years for the
electric motor to be used commercially. The telegraph
was the most successful practical use of electricity in the
19th century.
Communication is one of the most important ways
that electricity and magnetism have been used. It is a big
jump from the telegraph to the cell phone. Thomas
Edison improved incandescent lighting in 1879, by
Joseph Henry’s large horseshoe shaped
inventing a workable filament that allowed the light bulbs electromagnet from 1831. Henry used
it in experiments. Courtesy:
to burn longer. Then he set out to create a system of
Smithsonian Institution.
generating and distributing electrical power. The world’s
first commercial power plant using direct current was opened in New York City in 1882
producing and distributing electricity to one square mile of Manhattan. Alternating
current was discovered to be better for delivering electricity over long distances. Nikola
Tesla invented, in 1883, a practical AC motor. George Westinghouse set up an AC
power system. It successfully transmitted large amounts of power to distant places. We
still use AC today.
Now there were large amounts of electricity that could be delivered over long
distances that was cheap and reliable. Many inventions followed such as electric
appliances, radios, televisions, refrigerators, computers and many more. Today we take
electricity for granted and sometimes even waste it. We should remember that many
people in this world still do not have electricity. Engineers are now trying to find new
ways to produce electricity and new ways to make old ways more efficient.
Bibliography
http://www.code-electrical.com/historyofelectricity.html
http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/exhibit/exhibit.php?id=159249&lid=1
http://www.codecheck.com/pp_elect.html
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blelectric.htm