Electricity and electrical devices

Electricity fascinated mankind since our ancestors first witnessed lightning. In ancient Greece, Thales observed that an electric charge could be generated by rubbing amber, for which the Greek word is electron.

The German physicist Otto von Guericke experimented with generating electricity in 1650. The English physicist Stephen Gray discovered electrical conductivity in 1729. Benjamin Franklin studied the properties of electricity in 1752.

Luigi Galvani is famous for his theory of animal electricity. This has been abandoned by scientists on account of later discoveries by Italian inventor Alessandro Volta.

Beginning in 1794, Volta observed the electrical interaction between two different metals submerged near each other in an acidic solution. Based on this principle, his first battery consisted of a series of alternating copper and zinc rings in an electrolyte. His device for generating a consistent flow of electricity was invented in 1800, a column battery, known as Volta battery, Voltaic cell or Voltaic pile.

In 1800, William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle used a battery to decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen. Sir Humphry Davy researched the decomposition of substances called electrolysis. In 1813, he constructed a 2,000-plate paired battery in the basement of Britain's Royal Society, covering 889 ft² (83 m²). Davy deduced that electrolysis was the action in the voltaic pile that produced electricity.

Between 1832 and 1834, Michael Faraday conducted experiments with a ferrite ring, a galvanometer, and a connected battery. When the battery was connected or disconnected, the galvanometer deflected. Faraday also developed the principle of ionic mobility in chemical reactions of batteries. In 1839, William Robert Grove developed the first fuel cell, which produced electrical energy by combining hydrogen and oxygen.

The next step in the evolution of electrical energy storage was the invention of the lead acid storage battery in 1859 by Gaston Plante. This chemical battery used a liquid electrolyte. Based on the pioneering work done between 1867 and 1877 by Georges Leclanche in France, the situation showed promise of changing to a more portable battery. Around 1881, Emile Alphonse Faure, with his colleagues, developed batteries using a mixture of lead oxides for the positive plate electrolyte. These had faster reactions and higher efficiency.