Without the invention of electricity, none of us would have the power to use a computer, turn on a light, or keep the food in our refrigerator from spoiling. Electricity is a wonderful part of all of our lives that we use every single day.
When someone wonders about where electricity came from, the icon image of Benjamin Franklin flying a kite in a storm comes to mind, but did you know that he did not discover certain aspects of electricity by himself?
The truth is that mankind has been experimenting with electricity for thousands of years and it was not a single man that began doing so. Here is some more information about electricity through the history.
Static electricity: The invention of electricity began with a man named Thales who lived in Greece around the year 600 BC. He rubbed objects and found out that static electricity could be created this way.
Otto von Guericke was the one that first demonstrated static electricity in 1660. He had a machine that helped with the demonstration. Demonstrations were one thing, but what about being able to store that electricity? George Von Kleist was the man who wondered this very thing, and he created the first capacitator for the storage of electricity.
(Photo Credit: Emilian Robert Vicol)
Benjamin Franklin and his kite and key experiment in a storm happened in 1752, and with this he proved that static electricity and lightning were the same thing.
Battery: Alessandro Volta is the man that created the first electric battery in 1800. This is where the word volt and voltage comes from.
Ohm’s Law: Georg Ohm discovered that power, voltage, current, and resistance were all associated with each other; the year was 1826, and this was called Ohm’s Law.
The electric motor: Thomas Davenport created the electric motor in 1837, which is now used in electric appliances.
The light bulb: In 1878, Thomas Edison created a light bulb that lasted for around forty hours, he founded the Edison Electric Light Company, and in 1880 his light bulb was able to last over twelve hundred hours.
The first electric company: The California Electric Light Company was founded in 1879, and it was the first company to provide electricity to houses that San Francisco.
Electricity makes all of our lives better, and it was the hard work of a lot of men that helped make it the vital tool that it is today.
The next time you turn on your laptop and click on a lamp to see by, just remember that electricity is how this is possible and be thankful for it.