The discovery of Electricity

1. The discovery of Electricity It change our world so much, many progresses were made just because of it . Hence, we have to Remember it forever ever… By: Yaqi Yang, Xinyao Zhang, Jinxin Chen

2. Before people know something about electricity. People first noticed the Static Electricity.

3. Miletusis the first person that recognized the electricity ( era before the sixth century). He used clothes to rub againstaamber, and then observed that the amber attracted some feather. But the scientificstudy of the static electricity is started in the 17th century.

4. At the beginning of 1600, an English doctor, William Gilbert(1540-1603) said that the force from rubbing is different from the force between ferric matter and magnet. The magnet can only attract ferric matter, but the force between rubbing two stuffs can attract all small and light things. Since that, Gilbert named the object likes the amber as “Electrica”.

5. A Frenchman called Charles Francois du Fayis the first person who discovered the static electricityin-depth. He had done a great deal of experiments and found out that almost all kinds of matters could used to make electricity when rubbing them. And he denied the idea from Gilbert that matters made up of Electica and non-electica. Furthermore, he found out that the electricity is separated into two forms which he called resinous (-) and vitreous (+), now called negative and positive.

6. These three people played an important part in the development of static electricity in Europe. Also, these discoveries attracted Benjamin Franklin’s attention later on. Then…

7. The first contribution of Benjamin Franklin is to discover the “electric current”. He think that electricity is a no weight fluid and exist in all the objects. If an object receives more charge than normal, it was named as positive current; if an object receives less charge than normal, it was called as negative current. According to Franklin, electricity which always move is from positive to negative. However, this idea is totally opposite to what we believe today!

8. Franklin’s another contribution to electricity is the famous “kite experiment” in 1752. This experiment providesthatlightingiselectricity. He used a metal wire with a keyto connect a kite andfly it in the sky. Then, Franklin held thekite in one hand and used the other hand to touch the key.He felt a strong impact while he saw the sparks between the key and his finger. After he touched the electricity, he spent years work on it, and invented the first lighting conductor. However, this was just a start . . .

9. who is the first scientist studiedthe electric current? Italian’s anatomist Luigi Galvani who was considered the first people who studiedthe electric current.

10. P.S. A famous experiment made by Galvani Galvani’s discovery is coincidental, the ordinary lightning phenomenon in 1780 lead to his thinking. According to popular version of the story, Galvani put a frog at a table in his dissecting room where he once taken the static electricity. He then use a scalpel which had picked up a charge and then touch the frog’s leg, this lightning cause the sparks of frog’s leg. It is so surprise that the frog’s leg kick as if it is alive. He use total 12 years to study the electrical effects in muscles like the frog’s leg. Finally, he discover that if nerve and muscle connected by the two different metals, like iron and steel wire, the frog’s leg will got spasm and spark. This phenomenon was caused by the current loop. Muscle and two different metal wires consist of the first current loop in the world.

11. According to this phenomenon, he created the “Galvani Battery”. Galvani could not explain the reason of the electric current phenomenon which he named the term animal electricity.

12. Galvani called the term animal electricity to describe the force that activated themuscles of his specimens. Along with contemporaries, he regarded their activation as being generated by an electrical fluid that is carried to the muscles by thenerves. The phenomenon was dubbedgalvanism, after Galvani, on the suggestion of his peer and sometime intellectual adversaryAlessandro Volta. Today, the study of galvanic effects in biology is calledelectrophysiology, the term galvanism being used only in historical contexts. （words in red are all from WIKI, is a supplement of what we write about the experiment. Just a reference.)

13. Another Italian scientist Alessandro Volta disagreed with the Galvani’s idea. Under the opinion of himself, Volta created the famous “Volta Battery”. This is only an original battery which is a battery pack connected by a lot of zinc batteries . The creation of Volta makes people receive the continuous current controlled by human, and lay the foundation of studying the electric current.

14. Up till now, human is really familiarto the electricity . . . Many masterpieces were given birth to by scientists by using the knowledge of electricity.

15. How the discovery of the Electricity influence the world?

16. No.1 In the field of science: Chemistry … Just due to the battery, HumphryDavy,a,English chemist, could lay the foundation of the Arrhenius ionization theory and separated sodium, potassium, strontium, boron, calcium, chlorine, fluorine, iodine and other elements. What’s more, Michael Faraday, Humphry’s assistant, created the Faraday's laws of electrolysis. These really leaded the chemistry into a new world!

17. No.2In the field of science: Physics… The study of electricity is a significant step for people to do more studies on electromagnetic phenomena in the future.

18. Due to the foundation of the electricity, Hans Christian Oersted, Danish physicist and chemist, could have a chance to find the magnetic effect of current in 1820 . After that, in 1824, D.F.J.found electromagnetic damping and Electromagnetic drive after many experiments. And, these two phenomenaare well known as the earliest electromagnetism induction phenomena

19. Michael Faraday, English physicist, concluded all the phenomena from his experiments and called named “electromagnetic induction”. After that “Generators” come to truth. This contribution changed our world in a significant way!

20. No.3 In our daily life … Current is the charge to move in a certain direction. When the current go through the circuit, it will generate many new effects. For instance, if the current go through the light bulb, it may light bulb; if the current go through the fan, the fan runs. Moreover, current can charge the battery. All these phenomena show that the current flow is a kind of energy transfer process, energy can be transformed through a variety of specific devices for other forms of energy.

21. For example, because of electricity, people later created electric appliance: 1. Electric lights—with it, we no longer need to live in dark at night. People also createddifferent kinds of electric lights from tiny ones to giant ones to fit different demands. They are really helpful !!! Also, electric light became a symbol that people came into the Electric Age. Oh, look! Even an age is named after “ Electric” ! 2. Fans, air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, televisions, wash machines, etc—with them, we can enjoy our colorful life!!! 3. In today’s life, nearly all equipments used not only in home, but also in building sites，factories, labs, need electricity!!! Without electricity, our world cannot makes progress！

22. All the information are from website: Google.com WIKI baidu. com We learned from them and used those knowledge to finish this project.