Wednesday 22 April 2020

Scientific Discoveries

I was thinking the other day. I remember it well because it was a Tuesday, and I often think on a Tuesday. Not as much as in other days but my thoughts are a bit more focussed on Tuesdays. I don't know why.

Anyway, it was raining outside. Just as well. I would hate it if it rained inside. We'd be wet everywhere. Reminded me of when I was young. My parents' home was so damp we had a permanent rainbow in the kitchen.

As I was saying, it was raining outside and there was the sound of thunder. Thus proving that where I live sound travels faster than light, because a little later there was a flash of lightning.

Did you know, that in June 1752, Benjamin Franklin conducted an experiment from on top of the spire of Christ Church in Philadelphia. Apparently he flew a kite into a thunderstorm and the lightning hit the kite and conducted electricity to the ground.

Presumably that is how fire was discovered, I thought. Lightning hit something combustible, like a newspaper or a gas canister and whoosh ... primitive man discovered fire. And that's how pre-historic man invented the cigarette lighter; which is in effect creating a spark to ignite the fuel.

I wonder if that is how they discovered electricity too! Can you imagine what life must have been like before electricity?

People used to put sliced bread in a toaster and it would remain as sliced bread. No electricity - no toast.

Milk used to go sour in the fridge. Other foodstuffs too would rot. Ice cream would melt. And worse of all, when you opened the fridge the little light bulb would not come on.

Life must have been terrible before they discovered electricity. People used to build wind-turbines everywhere for no purpose at all. The big propellers of the turbines used to go round and round for no reason at all. A bit like windmills. Only windmills were more attractive and provided targets for Don Quixote to attack. You know ... the man who sang "To dream ... the impossible dream ..." from La Mancha!  

Before electricity people did not have electric lights in their homes. They used battery operated torches instead.

Electric appliances like washing machines, televisions, dishwashers, electric shavers and toothbrushes and the like were totally useless. People went to the shops and asked, "what does this machine do?" And the salesman used to say, "Nothing! You just buy it and wait until someone discovers electricity to make it work!"

People used to buy a TV set for the living room, then put a piano in front of it and play it for entertainment.

Houses were totally dark at night with no electricity. The only light was when a bus or a car drove by outside with its headlights on. But the glimmer of light lasted seconds until the vehicle drove away.

Then one day someone put a nail in an electric socket in the wall and got an electric shock.

That's how electricity was discovered and the rest is history.

The first contraption that worked was the TV set. The first program broadcast on TV was totally awful; but people liked it all the same. A trend which has continued to this day.

It is often argued that the discovery of electricity is the greatest discovery of mankind.

Personally I disagree. I think the discovery of the spoon rest is the greatest discovery of all. Before then people had to rest their spoons on the table when cooking in the kitchen. Either that, or they stuck the spoon in their ears whilst doing something else, like peeling the vegetables.

I said stuck the spoon in their ears ... not their rears. Are you paying attention?

20 comments:

  1. I would not want to go back to the time when there was no electricity!

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    1. Must have been a shocking time then!

      God bless, Kathy.

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  2. :D Thanks for this whirlwind tour!

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    1. Thank you Brian. I like to research educational material to publish here. Who would have thought that a lot of electrical appliances like toasters had been invented before they discovered electricity!

      God bless.

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  3. I'm so very spoiled by luxuries like electricity. Nope, wouldn't want to live like a pioneer women. Those bonnets are most unflattering!

    I'm never going to remark, "It's raining outside" without remembering this post. How funny, our speech patterns!

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    1. Electricity is such a complicated thing, Mevely. Here in the UK we are encouraged to save electricity by using those energy saving light bulbs. You switch the lights on and the bulb lights up ten minutes later. I can now get down the stairs before the lights come on. And the lights are so dim with these new light bulbs. Less lumens I am told. Whatever that is.

      God bless.

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  4. WE had no electricity for 9 days after a storm a few years back. No matter how hard or how often I slapped the side of the TV it just would not work.

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    1. I understand, JoeH. It is so annoying when appliances like TVs and computers and such like do not work without electricity. Why can't they invent appliances that work with spinach, or other vegetables? You just put spinach at the back of the TV in a slot and it comes on. Simple. Yet no one seems to have the brain to invent it.

      God bless you, JoeH.

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  5. I was wondering about all of this just the other day Victor. Hubby and I were sitting in our cave the other night around the fire, when a light bulb popped into my brain and I thought to myself that someone should invent electricity so that the light bulb could light up the next time that I had a great idea 💡

    Thank you for the laughs and your wild and crazy wonderful thoughts.

    God's Blessings My Friend
    and Stay Safe 🌷

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    1. And another thing about electricity; it's the amount that goes wasted. Did you know that whilst we're asleep, or not at home, there is electricity falling out of the power points all around our house? We have power points with two holes, (in the UK it is 3 holes), and electricity falls out onto the floor and vanishes. Yet, if you check the electric meter it is still running and you are paying for all this wasted electricity.

      God bless, Jan.

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  6. Victor, if you were my history teacher, I would be the most confused (but entertained) student on earth! On a serious note, I don't know what we'd do without the miracle that is electricity.
    Blessings!

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    1. On a serious note, Martha; I don't think scientists have understood exactly what is electricity. At a lecture once the professor tried to explain it to me as molecules (electrons) moving within the wire from the powers station to your house. Let's say the wire/cable is made of copper. The electrons are moving "within" the copper itself. Some materials (like gold) are better at conducting electricity because their electrons are faster at moving or there's more of them.

      I asked the professor whether she'd go out with me. She was shocked at my effrontery and her face was all aglow. See - electricity works!

      God bless, Martha.

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  7. I remember watching a movie years ago and the power went out when there was about 30 minutes left in the movie. Frustration, a few words to the tv, it didn't respond. :) Eventually I saw the end months later.

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    1. Yes that is really annoying when it happens like that. Only the other day, I turned on the lights and the bulb made a popping noise and did not light up. I thought, I must have been lucky the last time I was in this room. I switched the lights off with only a couple of seconds left in that light bulb's life.

      God bless, Bill.

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  8. Very Thankful for electricity!!!

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  9. And if electricty hadn't come along, i wouldn't get to read all about it on your blog!

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    1. Good point well made, Mimi. Thank you so much for visiting me here.

      God bless you always my friend.

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  10. I wonder about this stuff all the time, Victor:)

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