Electrical Discoveries

Natural occurrences of electricity:

•Lightning
•Static-amber rods rubbed with cat fur
•Electric fish (electric eels, electric
catfish, others)
•Nerve operation
•Brain activity
 Ancient and Classical
Long before any knowledge of electricity existed,
people were aware of shocks from
Electric fish.

Ancient Egyptian texts dating from

2750 BC referred to these fish as the
"Thunderer of the Nile", and described them as
the "protectors" of all other fish.
 Ancient and Classical
Ancient cultures Around the
Mediterranean knew that certain
objects, such as rods of amber,
could be rubbed with cat's fur to
attract light objects like feathers.
Thales of Miletus made a series
of observations on static electricity
around 600 BC.
 Ancient and Classical
from which he believed that friction rendered
amber magnetic, in contrast to minerals such
as magnetite, which needed no Rubbing. Thales
was incorrect in believing the attraction was due
to a magnetic effect, but later science would
prove a link between magnetism and electricity.
 Ancient and Classical
from which he believed that friction rendered
amber magnetic, in contrast to minerals such
as magnetite, which needed no Rubbing. Thales
was incorrect in believing the attraction was due
to a magnetic effect, but later science would
prove a link between magnetism and electricity.
 The Shocking History of
Electricity
Around 600 BC Greeks found that by
rubbing a hard fossilized resin (Amber)
against a fur cloth, it would attract
particles of straw. This strange effect
remained a mystery for over 2000 years.
Two Thousand Years Later
Around 1600, William Gilbert, a physician who
lived in London at the time of Queen Elizabeth I
and Shakespeare, studied magnetic phenomena
and demonstrated that the Earth itself was a
huge magnet, by means of his "terrella"
experiment. He also studied the attraction
produced when materials were rubbed, and
named it the "electric" attraction. From that
came the word "electricity" and all others
derived from it.
 Birth of “Electronics”

 During the 1800s it became evident that electric

charge had a natural unit, which could not be
subdivided any further, and in 1891 Johnstone Stoney
proposed to name it "electron."

 When J.J. Thomson discovered the particle which

carried that charge, the name "electron" was applied to
it. He won the Nobel Prize in 1906 for his discovery.
But, I Get Ahead of My Story
 Benjamin Franklin

In 1752, Franklin proved that

lightning and the spark
from amber were one and the
same thing. This story is a
familiar one, in which
Franklin fastened an iron spike
to a silken kite, which he
flew during a thunderstorm,
while holding the end of the
kite string by an iron key.
When lightening flashed, a tiny spark jumped from the key
to his wrist. The experiment proved Franklin's theory, but
was extremely dangerous - he could easily have been killed.
 Galvani and Volta
In 1786, an Italian professor of medicine, found that
when the leg of a dead frog was touched by a metal
knife, the leg twitched violently. Galvani thought that
the muscles of the frog must contain electricity.

By 1792, another Italian scientist, Alessandro Volta,

disagreed: he realized that the main factors in
Galvani's discovery were the two different metals -
the steel knife and the tin plate - upon which the frog
was lying. Volta showed that when moisture comes
between two different metals, electricity is created.
This led him to invent the first electric battery, the
voltaic pile, which he made from thin sheets of copper
and zinc separated by moist pasteboard.
 Volta…continued

In this way, a new kind of electricity was discovered, electricity that

flowed steadily like a current of water instead of discharging itself in
a single spark or shock. Volta showed that electricity could be made
to travel from one place to another by wire, thereby making an
important contribution to the science of electricity. The unit of
electrical potential, the Volt, is named after him.
 Andre Marie Ampere

Andre Marie Ampere, a

French mathematician who
devoted himself to the study
of electricity and magnetism,
was the first to explain the
electro-dynamic theory. A
permanent memorial to Ampere
is the use of his name for the
unit of electric current.
 Michael Faraday

The credit for generating

electric current on a practical
scale goes to the famous English
scientist, Michael Faraday.
Faraday was greatly interested
in the invention of the
electromagnet, but his brilliant
mind took earlier experiments
still further. If electricity could
produce magnetism, why couldn't
magnetism produce electricity?
 Faraday….continued

In 1831, Faraday found the solution. Electricity could be

produced through magnetism by motion. He discovered that when
a magnet was moved inside a coil of copper wire, a tiny electric
current flows through the wire. Of course, by today's standards,
Faraday's electric generator was crude (and provided only a small
electric current), but he had discovered the first method of
generating electricity by means of motion in a magnetic field.
Electric Interaction at a Distance

Faraday also realized

that the electric force is
transmitted by a electric
field.
 Ohm

George Simon Ohm, a German

mathematician and physicist, was a
college teacher in Cologne when in 1827
he published, "The Galvanic Circuit
Investigated Mathematically". His
theories were coldly received by German
scientists, but his research was
recognized in Britain and he was awarded
the Copley Medal in 1841. His name has
been given to the unit of electrical
resistance.

Voltage = Current x Resistance

 Edison and Swan

Nearly 40 years went by before a really practical DC (Direct

Current) generator was built by Thomas Edison. In 1878 Joseph
Swan, a British scientist, invented the incandescent filament lamp
and within twelve months Edison made a similar discovery in
America.
 Edison and Swan…continued

Swan and Edison later set up a joint company to produce the

first practical filament lamp. Prior to this, electric lighting had
been crude arc lamps.

Edison used his DC generator to provide electricity to light his

laboratory and later to illuminate the first New York street to
be lit by electric lamps, in September 1882. Edison's successes
were not without controversy, however - although he was
convinced of the merits of DC for generating electricity, other
scientists in Europe and America recognized that DC brought
major disadvantages.
 Westinghouse and Tesla
Westinghouse was a famous
American inventor and industrialist
who purchased and developed Nikola
Tesla's patented motor for
generating alternating current. The
work of Westinghouse and Tesla
gradually persuaded Americans that
the future lay with AC rather than
DC (Adoption of AC generation
enabled the transmission of large
blocks of electrical, power using
higher voltages via transformers,
which would have been impossible
otherwise). Today the unit of
measurement for magnetic fields
commemorates Tesla's name.
 Electromagnetism

• James Clerk Maxwell (1831 - 1879)

developed the laws of
electromagnetism in the form we
know them today: Maxwell’s
Equations
• Maxwell’s Equations are to
electromagnetism what Newton’s
Laws are to gravity

Note: It was Maxwell who realized the light is electromagnetic in nature