We tend to associate the story of electricity with Thomas Edison inventing the light bulb. Alternatively, we tend to associate it with Benjamin Franklin flying a kite in a lightning storm. But there’s more to the story of electricity than that. It goes back much further than most people realize. Even in antiquity, people recognized that there was static electricity, although it was not yet known by that name. Electricity was often confused with magnetism, which is another subject that is covered in this audiobook. For example, people knew about magnetic iron ore, now know as the “lodestone.” And they knew about how amber can attract small objects after being rubbed. In fact, the English word “electricity” comes from a Greek word for amber.
Magnetic compasses were invented in Ancient China, and some of the earliest science on them comes from the Chinese. There is some coverage of these things in this audiobook. But most of this audiobook is focused on later European discoveries in this area. For example, they talk about experiments with transmitting electric signals over long distances. Eventually, this would lead to the invention of the telegraph wire – and, later, the telephone. But as early as the Renaissance, William Gilbert discovered that most objects could be “electrified,” by objects charged with electricity. But he also discovered that some objects were more conducive to this than others. This is why some objects are used as conductors, while others are used as insulators – a discovery of later generations. In the seventeenth century, an electric generator was invented, which would later have many applications.
William Gilbert
But scientists were confused by one aspect of electric phenomena. This was the fact that electrified objects were sometimes attracted to each other, and at other times repelling to each other. A number of experiments were done in this area, and eventually led to a major breakthrough. This was the discovery of positive and negative charges. The same kinds of charge would repel each other, while opposite kinds of charge would attract each other. This led to many parlor tricks, which could entertain great audiences in the hands of a good showman. But it also had practical applications. This area of science shows us that “basic” science – that is to say, scientific studies without a practical application in mind – have often led to applications being discovered anyway. This is an argument for the funding of basic science, by governmental (and other) sources today.
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
The nineteenth century brought many additional breakthroughs in this area. Alessandro Volta constructed an electric battery, capable of producing an electric current. The units for measuring electric potential were later called “volts,” in homage to Mr. Volta. Another breakthrough came from André-Marie Ampère, who invented the aforementioned telegraph. The standard measure of electric current, the “ampere” (or “amp”), is named after this man. Charles-Augustin de Coulomb helped to place electromagnetic theory on a more mathematical basis, helping to explain the phenomena of attraction and repulsion. Another scientist was Georg Simon Ohm, the discoverer of Ohm’s Law of proportionality. The unit of electrical resistance, the “Ohm,” was named after him. In the interest of time, I am omitting many important names and discoveries, and giving mainly those breakthroughs that stood out to me personally.
James Clerk Maxwell
Most impressive to me were Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell. Albert Einstein considered them to be among the greatest scientists in history. Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction, which was soon discovered independently by Joseph Henry. And James Clerk Maxwell helped to connect electromagnetism with light, perhaps the greatest breakthrough in electromagnetic theory. Other breakthroughs were made in the twentieth century, when electric power first became commercially viable – the work of Mr. Edison. Nowadays, electricity is also used to store information, because of the “Information Revolution” of computers. This is one of the most practical applications of electric theory today, and has changed the world that we live in.
Thomas Alva Edison
Thus, suffice it to say that this is a great introduction to this history, which shows the effects of science upon the modern world. It is much recommended to anyone interested in this subject, who wants to know how these important breakthroughs were brought about.
If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of an audiobook series
Science & Discovery
The Story of Electricity
Others to be covered later
See also the audiobook series
The Giants of Philosophy
Others to be covered later
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