Experiments in Electricity and Magnetism
Electricity and magnetism run nearly everything we plug in or turn on. Although it’s something we take for granted, it has taken hundreds of years of experimentation and research to reach the point where we flick a switch and the lights go on.
Ancient Greeks knew rubbing amber generated static electricity, but they didn’t know why. The Greek word for amber is elektron.
People knew about electricity for a long time. Ancient Greeks noticed that if they rubbed a piece of amber, feathers would stick to it. You’ve experienced a similar thing if you’ve ever had your hair stick up straight after you combed it, or had your socks stick together when you removed them from the drier. This is called static electricity, but back then nobody knew how to explain it or what to do with it.
Experiments using friction to generate static electricity led to machines that could produce large amounts of static electricity on demand. In 1660 German Otto von Guericke made the first electrostatic generator with a ball of sulfur and some cloth. The ball symbolized the earth, and he believed that this little replica of the earth would shed part of its electric “soul” when rubbed. It worked, and now scientists could study electric shocks and sparks whenever they wanted.
A Leyden jar from about the 1910s. Courtesy: David Rickert.
As scientists continued to study electricity, they began thinking of it as an invisible fluid and tried to capture and store it. One of the first to do this was Pieter van Musschenbroek of Leyden, Holland. In 1746 he wrapped a water-filled jar with metal foil and discovered that this simple device could store the energy produced by an electrostatic generator. This device became known as the Leyden jar.
Leyden jars were very important in other people’s experiments, such as Benjamin Franklin’s famous kite experiment. Many people suspected that lightning and static electricity were the same thing, since both crackled and produced bright
Ancient Greeks knew rubbing amber generated static electricity, but they didn’t know why. The Greek word for amber is elektron.
People knew about electricity for a long time. Ancient Greeks noticed that if they rubbed a piece of amber, feathers would stick to it. You’ve experienced a similar thing if you’ve ever had your hair stick up straight after you combed it, or had your socks stick together when you removed them from the drier. This is called static electricity, but back then nobody knew how to explain it or what to do with it.
Experiments using friction to generate static electricity led to machines that could produce large amounts of static electricity on demand. In 1660 German Otto von Guericke made the first electrostatic generator with a ball of sulfur and some cloth. The ball symbolized the earth, and he believed that this little replica of the earth would shed part of its electric “soul” when rubbed. It worked, and now scientists could study electric shocks and sparks whenever they wanted.
A Leyden jar from about the 1910s. Courtesy: David Rickert.
As scientists continued to study electricity, they began thinking of it as an invisible fluid and tried to capture and store it. One of the first to do this was Pieter van Musschenbroek of Leyden, Holland. In 1746 he wrapped a water-filled jar with metal foil and discovered that this simple device could store the energy produced by an electrostatic generator. This device became known as the Leyden jar.
Leyden jars were very important in other people’s experiments, such as Benjamin Franklin’s famous kite experiment. Many people suspected that lightning and static electricity were the same thing, since both crackled and produced bright