If you’ve ever experienced a power outage, you know how important electricity is for our everyday life. From powering our morning coffee to keeping our smartphones charged, electricity is more than just what keeps appliances turned on and off. It’s also everywhere around and inside of us, like the spark of lightning during a thunderstorm or that tiny shock when you touch a doorknob.
Did you know that while Benjamin Franklin is credited as the “founder” of electricity with his famous kite experiment, there have been recorded discoveries of electric charge as far back as 600 B.C.? During this time, the Greeks found that rubbing amber against animal fur created a magnetic attraction – essentially modern day static cling! While we still battle that annoying static that happens every laundry day, we’ve come a long way since.
But maybe it’s been awhile since your elementary school science class and you’ve completely forgotten about how electricity works. Not to worry, we’ve boiled down the science for you and created a helpful animation on the inner workings of electricity. It includes the basics of electricity all the way to how we harness this power to fuel homes, schools, hospitals and more.
