What do YOU think about electricity and its discovery by Benjamin Franklin in 1752?

Answer 1

Franklin didn’t discover electricity, but he did extensive research (relative to his times.

For our times the individual who should receive the most credit is Nikola Tesla who laid the foundation for the practical alternating current use.

Some history follows:

Static electricity produced by rubbing objects against fur was known to the ancient Greeks, Phoenicians, Parthians and Mesopotamians. Some propose that the Parthians and Mesopotamians may have had some knowledge of electroplating, based on the discovery of the Baghdad Battery, which resembles a galvanic cell.
In 1600 the English scientist William Gilbert first used the New Latin word electricus ("of amber" or "like amber", from ηλεκτρον [elektron], the Greek word for "amber") to refer to the property of attracting small objects after being rubbed. This soon gave rise to the English words "electric" and "electricity", in Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica of 1646.
Further work was conducted by Otto von Guericke, Robert Boyle, Stephen Gray and C. F. du Fay. In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research in electricity. He had theories on the relationship between lightning and static electricity, including his famous kite-flying experiment,which was a key attached to a wet string and kite. During a lightning storm a small spark struck his finger showing that lightning is electricity. It sparked the interest of later scientists whose work provided the basis for modern electrical technology. Most notably these include Luigi Galvani (1737–1798), Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), Michael Faraday (1791–1867), André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836), and Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854).
The late 19th and early 20th century produced such giants of electrical engineering as Nikola Tesla, Antonio Meucci, Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, Werner von Siemens, Charles Steinmetz, Alexander Graham Bell and William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin.

Answer 2

People who don't have electricity now are considered poor or un-civilized. Kind of says something.

I work for the power company, I think it's a great invention.

Answer 3

Frankly, I think Mr. Franklin made a shocking discovery.



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