The Age of Electricity

  • Added:
    Feb 13, 2013
  • Article Views:
    1994
  • Word Count:
    305
Statue of Michael Faraday
Statue of Michael Faraday
Photo by ell brown

Nowadays we could hardly imagine life without electric light. There are labour saving devices which work on electricity in almost every household. To start a machine we just have to plug it in or push a button.


But do we ever ask ourselves who was the man who contributed most to the development of electricity? You probably know that it was Michael Faraday.


As Michael was very fond of reading he was very glad when he got a job in a bookseller`s shop in London. Soon he found out that his chief interest was in science and especially in a new-born branch of science – electricity.  Like all true scientists Faraday wanted to make experiments. It was already known at that time that an electric current could turn iron into a magnet. Faraday wondered whether a magnet could be made to give an electric current. He made coils of wire and put them around magnets. At his first attempt he could not get any current, but he kept on experimenting.


One day an idea struck him. He moved the magnet near the wire. An electric current ran through the wire.  This was an important event in Faraday`s life and in the history of electricity as well.  After that success he tried various ways of getting electric current and discovered electromagnetic induction which has become the scientific basis of electrical engineering. Finally he constructed the induction generator which has been the prototype of all modern machines producing electric power.


Further investigations into electricity have been made since Faraday. It is used everywhere in modern life. It lights and heats our houses. It makes our wireless, television sets, washing machines, refrigerators and all sorts of modern machines work. It provides the necessary power to drive our electric trains.  Faraday`s discovery was the beginning of the electrical age which has changed the face of the earth.

Author's Profile

I love writing about various topics and I am interested in many things.


Please Rate this Article
Poor Excellent