The history of electricity

We think of electricity in terms of power stations, lightbulbs and all of our electrical appliances, but electricity is an age old force with electrons flowing all around us creating lightning bolts and static electricity too. Many people have contributed over the years to the way in which we use electricity today. This article looks at some of those early contributors who we have to thank for giving us the ability to light our homes and cook our meals.

The debate between Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta - In 1768 a medical professor named Luigi Galvani found that when he touched the leg of a dead frog with his knife, the frog's leg jumped and twitched which led him to believe that electricity was contained within the frog's muscles. Another Italian scientist named Alessandro Volta was unconvinced and thought that instead it must be something to do with the tin plate that the frog had been set down on and the steel knife used for incisions. Through his experiments, Volta found that when moisture comes between two different metals, in this case the frog's leg, then electricity is created.

With this breakthrough experiment, a whole new kind of electricity was discovered. Whereas previously electricity had only been seen to operate in sparks or shocks, here was a type of electricity that flowed like water.

Michael Faraday - Famed English scientist Michael Faraday can safely take the credit for harnessing and producing electrical currents of a practical size. In 1831, he found that by moving a magnet inside a coil of copper wire, electricity could be made to flow through the wire, thus electromagnetism was born.

Swan and Edison - 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. Joseph Swan meanwhile, was busy working on filament lamps. A gifted British scientist he had invented the first incandescent filament lamp by 1878. Without any knowledge of each other's work, Edison was to invent the same thing less than one year later.

They say great minds think alike, and so Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan decided to combine their talents and start a company together which would make the world's first practical filament lamps.

Edison then went on to light his own laboratory with his very own DC generator and lamps, and subsequently, led the whole world in lighting our homes electrically. He worked primarily with direct current electricity however, and some criticised this as DC power was seen to have some real shortcomings.

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