Electricity has become an integral part of our daily lives. After entering a house, the first thing we do is turn on the A/C or fan. Mumbai is hot enough that we use the A/C and fan as our first step. Most people turn on the TV as soon as they get home. Children, especially, cannot live without it these days. Is there anyone whose lives haven’t been touched today by computers and mobile phones?
A Brief History Articles of Electricity-3All these electrical/electronic devices require electricity to work, which we expect to get when we turn on the electric switch! Electricity is so ubiquitous that we have lost sight of its wonder. Have you ever wondered how and when electricity was discovered? What were the key milestones on its “journey” to mainstream acceptance?
People were already aware of electric shocks long before electricity was invented. In ancient Egyptian texts, 2750 BC refers to them as “Thunderers on the Nile” or “protectors for all other fish.” Ancient Greek, Roman, Arabic naturalists, and physicians reported electric fish a thousand years later. Many ancient writers wrote and attested to the numbing effects of shock from catfish and torpedo radiations on their bodies. They also knew that they could travel with conducting objects. People with incurable diseases were encouraged to touch the fish in those days, hoping to be healed.
The first known scientist of electricity, Thales of Miletus, made several observations about static electricity around 600 BC. This is when particular objects such as rods of amber are rubbed with cat fur. It can attract light things like feathers. Thales believed friction made amber magnetic, unlike magnetite, which didn’t require rubbing. Thales thought that attraction was due to magnetism, but science proved otherwise.
Electricity was a subject of intellectual curiosity until 1600, when William Gilbert, an English scientist, studied electricity and magnetism. He distinguished between static electricity generated by rubbing amber and magnetic effect. He is the one who invented the Latin term “electrics,” which means “of or similar amber,” and “Elektron,” which is the Greek word for amber. This association led to the modern terms “electric” or “electricity.
A Brief History of Electricity-4In the 18th century Benjamin Franklin did extensive research and sold his possessions to finance it. (I can imagine his wife/parents/relatives ridiculing him for doing that. “Benjamin! Don’t you have other things to do? What’s the harm in selling your house to do all this? Are you crazy? He was indeed out of his mind. Can we thank him enough today? He attached a key made of metal to the bottom of a dampened kite in June 1752 and flew it under a stormy sky. He saw several sparks jump from the key to his hand, indicating that lightning is electrical.
An Overview of Electricity-1
Figure 2.1
A Brief History of Electricity-2
Figure 2.2
Two parties had invented the “Leyden Jar” a few years before: German Ewald Georg of Kleist and the Dutch scientists Pieter van Musschenbroek and Andreas Cunaeus. It captured and stored static electricity. This was the first crude version of a capacitor. The resistor and inductor are two other essential electrical devices. As technical terminology says, Daniel Granath connected many of these jars, or “in parallel,” to increase the total charge stored. People who touched them received severe shocks, thus proving his theory. Benjamin Franklin compared it to a battery, or “in parallel,” and called it a “battery,” a term that is an integral part of our daily lives. With the help of his kite and Benjamin Franklin, he also captured electricity from a Leyden container. This proved beyond doubt that lightning is indeed electrical.
A Brief History of Electricity-5In 1791, Luigi Galvani published the discovery of bioelectricity. This demonstrated that electricity is the medium through which nerve cells transmit signals to their muscles. Alessandro Volta created a battery using alternating layers made of copper and zinc in 1800. This provided scientists with a reliable source of electricity that was more reliable than the electrostatic machines they had used before. Hans Christian Orsted, Andre-Marie Ampere, and others – who are the names of the SI unit for current – discovered electromagnetism in 1819-1820. Michael Faraday invented the electric motor in 1821. After whom the SI unit for resistance is named, Georg Ohm mathematically analyzed and built the first electric circuit!
The most incredible advancements in electrical engineering were made in the latter part of the 19th century. Alexander Graham Bell and Otto Blathy, Thomas Edison, and Galileo Ferraris were the most prominent scientists. They also helped to make electricity a vital tool in modern life.
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