The Kelvin Electrostatic Generator
In order to prosper and stay healthy, our bodies need water. In fact, our bodies are 55-60 percent water. We use water in a myriad of ways including cooking, cleaning, and even growing the food we eat to survive. To the human eye water may look plain and uninteresting, but if you looked at the water closely, you would see that water contains electrical charges that move around, these charges are called ions. The Kelvin Electrostatic Generator uses these positively and negatively charged particles in the water to make static electricity.
The History of the Kelvin Electrostatic Generator
The first electrostatic generators were called “friction machines.” These generators were called friction machines because of the friction they created in the generation process. In 1663 Otto Von Guericke invented a primitive form of a frictional machine. He invented this machine using a sulphur globe that could be rubbed and rotated by hand. This machine was not intended to produce electricity but it paved the way for many other machines that used rotating globes. Isaac Newton suggested that the sulphur globe should be replaced with a glass globe. Francis Hauksbee improved this basic design with his frictional machine by enabling a glass sphere to rotate rapidly against a wool cloth. These frictional generators were further developed when Professor Georg Matthias Bose of Wittenberg added an insulated tube supported on silk strings to the contraption. Professor Bose was the first to start the prime conductor in these types of machines. He did this by having a person hold an iron rod while standing on a block of resin for insulation. In 1746, Watson’s machine consisted of a large wheel that turned several glass globes while a gun barrel and sword were suspended from silk cords for its prime conductors. Ingenhousz also invented electrical machines made of plate glass during this time. The following people were responsible for making small but...