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The Discovery of
Electricity
For hundreds of years, electricity has been a challenge to many scientists.
They have known about its existence but found it difficult to explain what
electricity actually is.
Where it all began
Around 500 BC, Greeks found that rubbing an 'electron' (a hard, fossilised
piece of resin, today known as 'amber'), against a cloth or fur would cause
it to attract particles of straw. This strange effect remained a mystery for
about 2000 years, until around AD 1600 when Dr William Gilbert investigated
the reactions of amber and magnets. Gilbert first recorded the word
'electricity' in a report on the theory of magnetism. |
