• Question: How was electricity first made???

    Asked by pinkflower24 to Antoine, Daniel, James, Julie, Saima on 9 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Antoine Buchard

      Antoine Buchard answered on 9 Nov 2013:

      Hi Pinkflower24
      Thanks for your question!
      Electricity has always existed in nature. However, I consider that the first man who “made” electricity on purpose was Alessandro Volta in 1779. He was an Italian physicist who invented the first battery, so a way to produce electricity when needed. He created a battery out of stacks of zinc and copper, with weak acids in between each layer. When the two ends of the battery are connected, some chemical reactions happen and a electric current flows between them.

    • Photo: Daniel Patten

      Daniel Patten answered on 10 Nov 2013:

      Antoine’s answer sounds good to me! I thought it was made by a hamster running in a wheel!

    • Photo: Saima Rehman

      Saima Rehman answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      This is very interesting to know that in very old days, 1752, Franklin did very dangerous experiment (never ever try it, ok pinkflower24!) He flew a kite when it was lightning in thunder and storm. He used a metal wire to tie with his kite. When it was up in sky, and there was a loud thunder, his wire caught electric current and he got a “electric shock”. From that time the electricity was first discovered.

    • Photo: James Hickey

      James Hickey answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      Hi pinkflower24. That’s a really tricky question. As Antoine said, electricity has always been around in the natural world – think about lightning for example, or the static that builds up when you rub two materials together (try rubbing a balloon against the hair on your head for a while, when you pull the balloon away some of your hair appears to stick to the balloon).

      But the use of electricity by people has a complicated history. There were many great minds working on the same problem around the same time. As Saima said, Benjamin Franklin related lightning to electricity with his kite experiment. And as Antoine said, Alessandro Volta created the first battery. It was an Englishman called William Gilbert that created the word ‘electric’ when he converted the Greek term ‘elektron’ after experimenting with static forces in 1600. It wan’t until 1831, however, that electricity became possible in technology when Michael Faraday built the first power generator. This then helped Thomas Edison in his quest to invent the light bulb. At the same time, Nikola Tesla was also contributing and helped make electricity more accessible with the alternating current (AC).

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