ORIGIN OF ELECTRICITY

STARTING WITH BEN FRANKLIN

Many people think Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity with his famous kite-flying experiments in 1752, but electricity was not discovered all at once. At first, electricity was associated with light. People wanted a cheap and safe way to light their homes, and scientists thought electricity might be a way.

 

THE BATTERY

Learning how to produce and use electricity was not easy. For a long time there was no dependable source of electricity for experiments. Finally, in 1800, Alessandro Volta, an Italian scientist, made a great discovery. He soaked paper in salt water, placed zinc and copper on opposite sides of the paper, and watched the chemical reaction produce an electric current. Volta had created the first electric cell.

By connecting many of these cells together, Volta was able to “string a current” and create a battery. It is in honor of Volta that we measure battery power in volts. Finally, a safe and dependable source of electricity was available, making it easy for scientists to study electricity.

 

MR. EDISON ANDHIS LIGHT

In 1879, Thomas Edison focused on inventing a practical light bulb, one that would last a long time before burning out. The problem was finding a strong material for the filament, the small wire inside the bulb that conducts electricity. Finally, Edison used ordinary cotton thread that had been soaked in carbon. This filament didn’t burn at all—it became incandescent; that is, it glowed.

The next challenge was developing an electrical system that could provide people with a practical source of energy to power these new lights. Edison wanted a way to make electricity both practical and inexpensive. He designed and built the first electric power plant that was able to produce electricity and carry it to people’s homes.

Edison’s Pearl Street Power Station started up its generator on September 4, 1882, in New York City. About 85 customers in lower Manhattan received enough power to light 5,000 lamps. His customers paid a lot for their electricity, though. In today’s dollars, the electricity cost $5.00 per kilowatt-hour! Today, electricity costs about 12 cents per kilowatt-hour for residential customers, and about 7 cents per kilowatt-hour for industry.

ORIGIN OF ELECTRICITY


Electricity is a form of energy that can only be appreciated by the effects it produces.

Electricity exists in everything in our body, in the air we breathe, the book we read, objects, etc.

The study of electricity at rest is called "electrostatic" and the study of electricity in motion is called electrodynamics.

CONCEPT

This word derives from the Greek word elektron, meaning amber. Any substance is composed of tiny particles called atoms.

HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY

Thales of Miletus (630-550 BC) was the first, that about 600 BC, knew that amber, when rubbed acquires the power of attraction for some objects.

However, it was the Greek philosopher Theophrastus (374-287 BC) the first, that in a treatise written three centuries later, established that other substances have the same power, thus leaving a record of the first scientific study on electricity.

In 1600, Queen Elizabeth I ordered the Royal Physical William Gilbert (1544-1603) to study the magnets to improve the accuracy of compasses used in navigation, this work being the main basis for defining the fundamentals of Electrostatics and Magnetism .

Gilbert was the first to apply the term electricity from the Greek "elektron = amber.

Gilbert is the unit of measurement of magnetomotive force.

In 1752, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) demonstrated the electrical nature of lightning.

He developed the theory that electricity is a fluid that exists in this area and its flow is due to excess or lack of it in her. He invented the lightning rod.

In 1780 he invented bifocals.