Every living being rely on electricity. Just think…without electricity, one wouldn’t be able to enjoy daily Wonders of the Day! What a horrible thought! Electricity does exist and it allows to enjoy life in so many ways. Everyday, all are surrounded by one of the most important innovations of all time, electricity. While it is a force of energy used all over world, before discovering it, people have been living for centuries without it. Nevertheless, even though human beings have survived without it, the chances of the human race thriving without it is highly unlikely. Before electricity became widely available, candles and kerosene lamps were used to provide light; and wood-burning or coal-burning stoves provided heat.
Electricity does not only light in one’s house and allow one to conveniently cook, clean and go about one’s day or work as one would normally today, but it also involves supporting different industries, one of the biggest includes technology. Electricity is also important for operation of machines such as computers, printers and many other devices etc. for routine office work. Without electricity, hospitals and medicine would not have been able to be advanced and cure illnesses, which would also result in more casualties. If the idea of electricity and the process of creating it didn’t occur, there would not have been any technology and life would remain the same as in ancient days.
As electricity is a natural force that exists in world, it didn’t have to be invented. It, however, have to be discovered, realized and understood. Scientists and inventors have worked really hard to decipher principles of electricity since the 1600s. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla made notable contributions to understanding and use of electricity.
Benjamin Franklin was having one of the greatest scientific minds of his time. Even prior to this, he was interested in many areas of science, made many discoveries, and invented many things, including bifocal glasses. In the mid-1700s, he became interested in electricity. Till that time, scientists had mainly known about and experimented with static electricity. Benjamin Franklin took things a big step ahead. He came up with the view that electricity had positive and negative elements and electricity flowed between these elements. Also he believed that lightning was a form of this flowing electricity.
In 1752, B.Franklin conducted his famous kite experiment. To prove that lightning was electricity, he flew a kite during thunderstorm. He tied a metal key to kite string. Just as per his thought, electricity from storm clouds thunderstorm transferred to his kite and electricity flowed down the string and gave him a shock. He was lucky that he didn’t get hurt, but great thing that gave him pleasure was that he didn’t mind the shock since it proved his idea.
Based upon B.Franklin’s work, many other scientists studied electricity and began to understand more about how it works. In 1879, Thomas Edison patented the electric light bulb and world has been brighter ever since!
B.Franklin demonstrated that lightning is electricity. Thomas Edison invented first long-lasting incandescent light bulb. Before the year 1879, direct current (DC) electricity was used in arc lights for outdoor lighting. Afterwards, Nikola Tesla pioneered the great generation, transmission and then use of alternating current(AC) electricity, which reduced cost of transmitting electricity over the long distances. Then Tesla’s inventions brought electricity to homes to power indoor lighting and into factories to power industrial machines.
But was B.Franklin really the first person to discover electricity? Maybe not! Over the turn of 17th century, English scientist William Gilbert established science underlying study of electricity and magnetism. Inspired by Gilbert’s work, another Englishman, Sir Thomas Browne made further investigations. Gilbert and Browne are credited with being the first scientists to use the wide term “electricity.”
Scientists have found evidence that ancient people might have experimented with electricity too. In 1936, claypots were found which indicate that the first batteries may have been invented over 2,000 years ago. The claypots contained copper plates, tin alloy, and iron rod. It could have been used to create electric current by filling it with an acidic solution like vinegar. Nobody perhaps knows what that device was used for, but it effectively sheds some light on the fact that people might have been learning about electricity long before Benjamin Franklin!
This is due to vast development and growth that was possible as a result of the production of electricity. The moment the idea was presented to world that electricity could be created and bring the world to life, WOW! it was the moment that everything changed.
Great minds of world worked in coordination to create essential asset like electricity for the human race. Development and generation of electricity changed the lives of all drastically, starting from domestic use to industrial activities. If we look at commercial and industrial sectors, all over technology is dependant on extraordinary creation of man. The education and aviation zone cannot last without the electrical supplies to carry out their overall practices. Without the discovery of electricity, life could not be what is it today.
It is pertinent to mention that the most amazing and life changing innovation made is “Electricity”. Moreover, it has become the basic requirement of inventions being made after this great achievement. Survival without electricity is unimaginable now. Besides the fact that electricity has now become one of the most essential needs to carry out daily routine, it becomes duty of government to find ways to produce electricity in the most effective manner without disturbing nature and making the whole environment unhealthy and polluted. It is also desirable that this precious development should be utilized economically. Efforts should be made to make electricity affordable and accessible to all so that everyone can make the best use of energy and maintain a good lifestyle.
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