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



The debate between LuigiGalvani and Alessandro Volta - In 1768 a medical professor named LuigiGalvani found that when he touched the leg of a dead frog with hisknife, the frog's leg jumped and twitched which led him to believe thatelectricity was contained within the frog's muscles. Another Italianscientist named Alessandro Volta was unconvinced and thought thatinstead it must be something to do with the tin plate that the frog hadbeen set down on and the steel knife used for incisions. Through hisexperiments, Volta found that when moisture comes between two differentmetals, in this case the frog's leg, then electricity is created.

Withthis breakthrough experiment, a whole new kind of electricity wasdiscovered. Whereas previously electricity had only been seen tooperate in sparks or shocks, here was a type of electricity that flowedlike water.

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

Swanand Edison - Thomas Edison is known the world over thanks to hisachievements with electricity. His first breakthrough was his directcurrent generator, which was the first really practical generator ofits kind. Joseph Swan meanwhile, was busy working on filament lamps. Agifted British scientist he had invented the first incandescentfilament lamp by 1878. Without any knowledge of each other's work,Edison was to invent the same thing less than one year later.

Theysay great minds think alike, and so Thomas Edison and Joseph Swandecided to combine their talents and start a company together whichwould make the world's first practical filament lamps.

Edisonthen went on to light his own laboratory with his very own DC generatorand lamps, and subsequently, led the whole world in lighting our homeselectrically. He worked primarily with direct current electricityhowever, and some criticised this as DC power was seen to have somereal shortcomings.

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