The Evolution of Electricity

What if Benjamin Franklin never discovered anything that involves Electricity? Everything in this world would be very different. We wouldn’t have iPhones or Samsungs anymore. You probably wouldn’t be reading this now. The world would not be the same without it. The first event which included electricity is in Ancient Greece. Thales of Miletus observed that an electric charge could be generated by rubbing amber, for which the Greek word is an electron. He was born in 624 BC, Miletus, Turkey. He passed away on 546 BC. He was 78 when he passed away. That was a huge difference in time between him and the next person I talk about.

If Thales never saw that electricity then we might not know of anything about electricity until much later. The first person and most important that has the biggest impact with this would be Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was born on January 17th, 1706. He was born in Milk Street, Boston. He ended up passing away on April 17, 1790, he was 84 years old. Franklin proposes the notion of positive and negative charge, conserving a balance except when a deficit is brought about by some means. His famous kite experiments, identifying lightning as a form of electrical discharge, took place in 1752. Franklin was going to have his brother there with him while he conducted the experiment, but his brother James Franklin couldn’t make it. So there is no big event that you can put for Franklin. Franklin most likely had the biggest impact on this. He was the first person to discover Electricity. If he didn’t do what he did then there would be a huge difference in Electricity.

Order custom essay The Evolution of Electricity with free plagiarism report

450+ experts on 30 subjects Starting from 3 hours delivery

Get Essay Help

In later years, there was a man named Alessandro Volta. He was born on February 18th,1745. He was born in Como, Lombardy, Italy. Volta ended up passing away on March 5, 1827. He was 82 years old. He was the first one to invent an electric battery. That was the first source of a DC current. He is an Italian physicist that is known for his pioneering work in electricity. In honor of his work in the field of electricity, the electrical unit known as the volt was named in his honor. Volta has a huge impact on Electricity, but if Franklin never discovered it, to begin with then that would not be possible. No one knows how much longer this would take to discover electricity.

In 1827, using equipment of his own creation, Georg Simon Ohm determined that the current that flows through a wire is proportional to its cross-sectional area and inversely proportional to its length or Ohm's law. These fundamental relationships are of such great importance, that they represent the true beginning of electrical circuit analysis. Georg Simon Ohm was a German physicist and mathematician. As a school teacher, Ohm began his research with the new electrochemical cell, invented by Italian scientist Alessandro Volta. Ohm was born on March 16th, 1789. He was born in Erlangen, Germany. He ended up passing away on July 6, 1854. He was only 65. In my opinion, I would say that this is the second most important discovery about Electricity. This would help out many other scientists later down the line. When he figured this out it was in a lab with other scientists in. If Franklin never figured out what he did then he wouldn’t ever to be able to do this. So after all of these facts about the people that had big things to do with Electricity.

I have come to a conclusion that Benjamin Franklin was the biggest thing that ever involved Electricity. If he did not discover it back on May 10th, 1752, then who knows if he would have discovered it yet. Franklin is considered the Father of Electricity and I believe that if he didn’t ever discover it then we might not have it to use in our daily life. If Volta wasn’t the first one to invent an electric battery then we wouldn’t have a lot of the stuff we would have now. That was the first source of a DC current. If Ohm didn’t determine that the current that flows through a wire is proportional to its cross-sectional area and inversely proportional to its length or Ohm's law then maybe we wouldn’t have found out anything about electricity. Franklin’s discovery is still the most important. If Franklin didn’t do anything to find out anything about electricity then we might not have a lot of the stuff that we have now.

These next paragraphs will be explaining a more in depth version of the Evolution of Electricity. The English physicist Stephen Gray (Born in December 1666) discovered electrical conductivity in 1729. Then between June 30th and July 2nd 1729 while in Kent he extended this first electrical network and made many new discoveries. On a visit to the Reverend Granville Wheler, (a wealthy friend, member of the Royal Society and Famsteed's relative), the two men extended the conduction experiments through pack-thread laced up and down the length of a large gallery in Wheler's manor house, Otterden Place in Kent. In the process, Gray and Wheler discovered the importance of insulating their thread 'conductor' from earth contact by using silk for suspension. Death: February 7, 1736. Wheler died on May 12th,1770.

The ever-growing applications of electricity explain the increasing use of fuels like natural gas, oil, and coal in power generation as opposed to direct uses such as heating or transportation. In 1848, for example, less than two percent of natural gas, oil, and coal were used to make electricity. A century later, 30 percent of our use of natural gas, oil, and coal was devoted to electric power. Smil explains electricity’s appeal: “Electricity is the preferred form of energy because of its high efficiency, instant and effortless access, perfect and easily adjustable flow, cleanliness, and silence at the point of use.”

The German physicist Otto von Guericke experimented with generating electricity. In 1663 he invented the first electric generator, which produced static electricity by applying friction against a revolving ball of sulfur. In 1672 he discovered that the electricity thus produced could cause the surface of the sulfur ball to glow; hence, he became the first man to view electroluminescence. Guericke also studied astronomy and predicted that comets would return regularly from outer space. He was born on November 30, 1602, and died on May 21, 1686.

Michael Faraday experimentally characterizes magnetic induction. The most thorough of early electrical investigators. In 1831, Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction, the principle behind the electric transformer and generator. This discovery was crucial in allowing electricity to be transformed from a curiosity into a powerful new technology. During the remainder of the decade he worked on developing his ideas about electricity. He died on August 25, 1867. He was 76 years old when he passed.

This is the last era of the three. Charles F. Brush was issued U.S. Patent No. 189,997 for his arc lighting system. After some more experimentation and modifications, Brush created a lamp that burned as brightly as four thousand candles. Such a bright light, obviously, could not be used inside of people's homes. Brush decided to market his invention to cities, so that they could light their streets at night. On April 29, 1879, Brush made a presentation of his invention to Cleveland residents. He had placed twenty arc lamps in the city's Monumental Park. Not sure of what to expect, people in attendance wore smoked glasses to protect their eyes.

Thomas Alva Edison invented the lightbulb, and houses, shops, factories, schools, streets, ballparks every place you could think of, indoors and out could at last be easily illuminated after dark. In 1878, Edison focused on inventing a safe, inexpensive electric light to replace the gaslight.A challenge that scientists had been grappling with for the last 50 years. With the help of prominent financial backers like J.P. Morgan and the Vanderbilt family, Edison set up the Edison Electric Light Company and began research and development. He made a breakthrough in October 1879 with a bulb that used a platinum filament In 1881, he set up an electric light company in Newark, and the following year moved his family to New York. Thomas Edison died of complications of diabetes on October 18, 1931, in his home, 'Glenmont,' in West Orange, New Jersey. He was 84 years old.

Lewis Latimer and fellow inventor Joseph V. Nichols received a patent for their invention of the first incandescent light bulb with carbon filament. The Edison Electric Light Company in New York City hired Latimer in 1884, as a draftsman and an expert witness in patent litigation on electric lights. Latimer is credited with an improved process for creating a carbon filament at this time, which was an improvement on Thomas Edison's original paper filament, which would burn out quickly. When that company was combined in 1892 with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric, he continued to work in the legal department. In 1911, he became a patent consultant to law firms. Lewis died on December 11th,1928. All of these people are still talked about today because of what they have done to get us where we are today with electricity. If we didn’t have one of these people then our lives can be very different from what they are right now. All of them are very important people and would be amazed to see how much better we have gotten with it since they passed away.

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

Check my essay Hire Writer