Ben Franklin, although known for many other things, made a significant contribution in harnessing electrical energy. He helped convert electricity (ie, lightning) "from a risk to a resource." Indeed, Franklin gave us some language about electricity that we still use today, as the excerpt below discusses:
Before Franklin started his scientific experimentation, it was thought that electricity consisted of two opposing forces. Franklin showed that electricity consisted of a "common element" which he named "electric fire." Further, electricity was "fluid" like a liquid. It passed from one body to another — however it was never destroyed. In a letter to Peter Collinson, Franklin wrote that the: "fire only circulates. Hence have arisen some new items among us. We say B (and other Bodies alike circumstanced) are electricised positively; A negatively; Or rather B is electricised plus and A minus ... These terms we may use till philosophers give us better."
Franklin's work became the basis for the single fluid theory. When something is being charged, such as a car battery, electricity flows from a positive body, that with an excess charge, to a negative body, that with negative charge. Indeed, a car battery has plus and minus signs on its terminals.
Franklin wrote Collinson in another letter that: "I feel a Want of Terms here and doubt much whether I shall be able to make this intelligible." Not only did Franklin have to posit theories, he also had to create a new language to fit them. Some of the electrical terms which Franklin coined during his experiments include:
From Risk To Resource... |
• battery
• charge • condensor • conductor • plus |
• minus
• positively • negatively • armature |
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These are still the terms we use today.
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