Humen's Discivery of Static Electricity

Humen's Discivery of Static Electricity

Human's knowing of electricity began with static electricity. The discovery and understanding

of static electricity is very early in China, just like in the West.

In the "Spring and Autumn Wei · Kao Yi You" of the late Western Han Dynasty, there is a record of

"Dai". There is a further record in Wang Chong's "On Heng · Disorderly Dragon" : "Amber muddle

mustard, magnets and needles, all of which are true and authentic. He's sosimilar, he can't be

picked up. Why? Qi is so different that we can't be moved." [1] This means that rubbed amber

 attracts mustard seeds, and magnets attract needles, because they share the same "spirit" that

moves each other; Other things that look similar to mustard seeds and steel needles do not touch

each other because they are different from Amber and magnets.

There are similar records in The Book Of Mountains and Seas Tuzan of the Eastern Jin Dynasty,

that is, "Magnet attracts iron, amber takes mustard, pneuma has latent sense, and number

has the meeting of destiny." Static electricity was juxtaposed with magnetostatic, and some

"number" was thought to be at work. In the History of Natural History, written by Zhang Hua

(232-300) in the Western Jin Dynasty,

Some electromagnetic phenomena are recorded in ancient Greek texts. Plato (427 -- 347 BC)

said that "the attraction of amber and magnets is a miracle observed." It suggests that the phe

-nomenon of amber attracting small objects was discovered by the Ancient Greeks over 300 BC.

Amber is a fossil formed by the resin of conifers and cypresses flowing into the ground. It is most

-ly a transparent solid with yellow luster. Ancient Greeks used to regard amber as a noble deco

-ration and often carried it on their bodies, so that they could easily find that it attracted light and

small objects.

Some 2,500 years ago, the Ancient Greek philosopher Thalus was studying the magnetism of lom

-agnet and discovered that rubbing amber with silk and flannel had similar properties to that of mag

-net. So Tallus became the first static experimenter in recorded history.