How Did Benjamin Franklin Discover Electricity In The 1600's

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Before the 1600’s, electricity was not a huge concept. The idea of electricity or the need for it was very foreign to several people. Until one day, in the 1700’s, when a man of the name Benjamin Franklin introduced this idea and made it into a reality with his invention of the Electrostatic Machine. The Electrostatic Machine laid the groundwork for understanding electricity and magnetism in depth. In the 1600’s, philosophers, scientists, and instrument makers created many devices to generate electrostatic charges, but was never to the full extent and paused with only their charges. Although, incomplete machines date back from 1750 and appear to have been Benjamin Franklin’s very own design of the Electrostatic Machine. The idea of electricity “sparked” Franklin’s interest and he began to investigate electricity with supplies from a few of his friends in Britain. …show more content…

How the machine functioned was by a glass globe turning on its axis and a cloth pad in contact with the globe. Metal needles conduct away the charge created by the globe by friction and then with the pad, the high voltage capacitor creates the charge. Soon, Franklin’s Electrostatic Machine led to new theories about electricity and inventing the lightning rod. Overall, Benjamin Franklin’s Electrostatic Machine prepared a solid foundation for comprehending electricity and its components. His machine was so successful and highly valued that it is being held at Princeton University. This showed that you can achieve massive accomplishments when you work hard and challenge yourself. Even more so, it created an environment of new theories that helped others in the future expand on these new ideas. Ultimately it changed what today looks like because Franklin decided to step out of the “norm” and create amazing ideas into a reality of inventions that soon would cultivate the

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