Who Made The Discovery Of Electricity?

Electricity has been studied for thousands of years. The curious thing about electricity is that we do not know exactly as to, what it is? Today, all ‘matter’ is thought to compose of tiny charged particles, Accordingly, tothis theory, electricity is simply a moving stream of electrons or charged particles. The word “electricity” comes from the Greek word electron. In Greek the word meant ‘amber’. As back as in 600 B.C. the Greeks knew that rubbing ‘amber’ meant making it capable to attract light bits of paper or cork.

Until 1672, much study had not been made to study electricity. A man called Otto von Guericke in that very year produced a more powerful charge of electricity by holding his hand against a ball of spinning sulphur. It was found by Stephen Greg in the year 1729, that some substances such as metals carried electricity from one location to another. These substances, as such, he named as “conductors”. There were other substances such as sulphur, glass, amber, wax that did not carry electricity. He called them “insulators”.

In 1733, a French man by the name du Fay discovered positive and negative charges of electricity. He, although thought, these were two kind of electricity. This proved to be a major step towards advancement. Benjamin Franklin tried to give an explanation of what electricity was? His idea was that all substances in nature contain “electrical fluid”. Friction between certain substances removed some of this “fluid” from one and placed an extra amount in the other. Today we say, that this “fluid” is composed of electrons which we negatively charged. Probably, the invention of the first battery, in the science of electricity was most important development. It took place in the year 1800, by Alessandro Volta. This battery provided the world its first continuous, reliable, source of electric current, and led to all the important discoveries, later, in the use of electricity.