A history of electricity

Have you ever wondered where electricity comes from? And how we came to use it as an energy source? For centuries humans have marvelled at electricity and its mysterious ways, with inventors, engineers and physicists battling to be the first to harness its energy.

The 18th century was a time of great advancement in the field of electricity thanks to the research and experiments carried out by Benjamin Franklin. The ancient Greeks had discovered static electricity, and Franklin set out to prove that static electricity was the same force that caused lightning bolts. Franklin's now famed kite experiment was a revelation in its day. By flying a kite during a thunder and lightning storm, his kite transmitted static electricity to his wrist as iron had been attached to both ends of his kite. Static electricity and the electrical energy found in bolts of lighting could now be said to be the same force.

A hugely important step toward our understanding of electricity was made by two Italian scientists in the 18th century. First Luigi Galvani found that by touching the leg of a dead frog with a knife, the leg twitched of its own accord. He reasoned that the frog's muscles must contain electricity. Volta disagreed, realising that the knife used was made of steel and the plate upon which the frog was lying was made of tin. He then reasoned that the electrical force was being transmitted between the two metals, and he was right. Through his experiments, Volta found that when moisture comes between two different metals, in this case the frog's leg, then electricity is created.

Thomas Edison is known the world over thanks to his achievements with electricity. His first breakthrough was his direct current generator, which was the first really practical generator of its kind. In 1879, Edison then designed what he thought to be the first incandescent filament lamp. But he had been beaten to it, by almost a year, by the brilliant English scientist Joseph Swan.

With the hope of lighting up homes across the United States and Great Britain alike, Swan and Edison paired up to set up a joint company which would get to work on the production of practical filament lamps.From here the first street to use electric street lamps was illuminated by Edison in 1882, in New York city. His work had been a triumph, but even this great thinker wasn't spared criticism as some began to doubt the efficacy of DC power as a reliable energy source.

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