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Nikola Tesla--(Page 15)

A Short Chronology of the History of Electricity & Radio

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The next significant discovery took place in 1820. Professor Hans Christian Oersted was demonstrating an experiment for students when he accidentally discovered that a compass needle moved when it was close to a wire connected to a voltaic pile.

Oersted's discovery was a major breakthrough in electrical science because he was first to recognize that electricity and magnetism are related. His discovery marked the beginning of electricity as we know it today. The "Oersted" is the unit of magnetic inductance.

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Andre-Marie Ampere made the next significant discovery, establishing the science of electrodynamics in 1823.

The properties of electromotive force in Ampere's time were in a constant state of interpretation and revision by many scientists. Nevertheless, it was Ampere's brilliant deduction that solved the scientific riddle. Ampere experimented with current-carrying conductors and reasoned that electromotive force is manifested by two kinds of effects: electric tension and electric current. Thus, he established the concepts of voltage and current. The "Ampere" is the unit of electric current.

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Three years later, in 1826, Georg Simon Ohm defined the exact relationship between voltage and current.

Today, Ohm's Law remains the most basic and universally used of all laws in electrical science. The "Ohm" is the unit of electrical resistance.

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News of Oersted's discovery, that electricity and magnetism are related, spread like wildfire in all the scientific communities. Now scientists knew that electricity could produce magnetism. The great experimental scientist, Michael Faraday, reasoned that if electricity could produce magnetism, then the reverse should be true also--magnetism should be able to produce electricity, but how could this be accomplished?

Oersted's discovery set Faraday on a series of experiments for 11 years. Finally, in 1831, his experiments revealed a great truth: Electricity could indeed be produced by magnetism. Nevertheless, the critical component of his discovery was that magnetism must be accompanied by motion. If Oersted had discovered the magic doorway that would lead to the age of electric power, it was Faraday who unlocked that door. The "Farad" is the unit of electrical capacitance.

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