The Most Important Invention In The Past Two Thousand Years
... get the key up near the lightning. As you probably already know, he used a child's toy, a kite, to prove that lightning is really a stream of electrified air, known today as plasma. This led him to develop many of the terms that we still use today when we talk about electricity: battery, conductor, condenser, charge, discharge, uncharged, negative, minus, plus, electric shock, and electrician. Over two hundred years have passed since Ben Franklin went out into that storm with his kite and his idea. A great amount of progress in the study of electricity has been made since then. However, there is still more to understand, even today scientists still study and experiment to learn more about electricity. Right now, most of our electricity comes from burning fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal). The combustion of the fuel generates the flow of current electricity. The problem is that fossil fuels are nonrenewable resources and will eventually run out. If we want to keep using our televisions, air conditioners, microwave ovens, and computers, we need to find another way to make electricity. Scientists today are experimenting...