An introduction to the discovery of Electricity
Learn how electricity was first
discovered and documented
As early as 600BC it was found that rubbing a piece of amber
created a build-up of charge which could attract small pieces of
straw. Around 1600 AD the word 'electric' was introduced to describe
this effect derived from the Greek word for amber, elektron.
Benjamin Franklin demonstrated the electrical origin of lightning in
1745 with his kite-flying experiments during thunderstorms.
He suggested the existence of two different charges: positive and
negative. In 1800 Alessandro Volta generated a constant electrical
current by placing layers of copper and zinc in a saline (salt)
solution. His 'Voltaic pile' was the first battery. The next
breakthrough was in 1820 when Andre-Marie Ampere established a
relationship between electricity and magnetism.
The final crucial step was the discovery of electromagnetic
induction, in 1831, by Michael Faraday who managed to convert
magnetism into electricity by moving a magnet through a coil of
wire. This led the way for the development of electrical generators
and in 1881 the first public electricity supply was introduced in
Godalming in Surrey for street lighting.