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Ben Franklin took his son out on a stormy day to fly a kite. He attached a key to it and it got struck by lightning. Ben touched it and felt the shock of electricity. He realized that static electricity and lighting were the same. It is hard to imagine how little was known about electricity when I use it everyday now.
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Here are a few historical energy achievements that occurred in the U.S. Most events didn't have a specific month or day so those are just labeled as January 31.
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Alessandro Volta created the "Volt Battery" named after him. This inspired so many more types of batteries to be made. Thanks goodness this happened! How would we survive without the help from batteries?!
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The Electric Motor was made in the U.S! Michael Farady invented it in 1821.
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Wood was the primary source for cooking, warmth, light, trains
and steamboats. Cutting wood was time consuming, hard work. -
The steel industry gave coal a big boost. It was the biggest energy source at its time.
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Mass production of automobiles began,creating demand for
gasoline. Prior to this, kerosene used for lighting had been the main oil product. -
Albert Einstein created a new
era of physics when he unified mass, energy, magnetism, electricity, and light. He came up with E=mc squared. This lead to the invention of new medicines, weapons, and nuclear power plants. -
The Ford Motor Company manufactured the Model T in large
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Distillate fuel oil heated about 22 percent of U.S. households. Over a third of all U.S. housing units were warmed by coal. Natural gas was used to warm about 25 percent of U.S. households. Electricity was used to warm only 0.6 percent of U.S. households
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Electricity was used as the main heating fuel in 29 percent of
U.S. households.
