Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Becky Salisbury

The Leyden jar was a device invented in Pieter van Musschenbroek in 1745 that was used for storing electric charge. It was one of the earliest inventions used for experiments in electricity. In respect to the design of the Leyden jar, the outer plate was grounded whereas the inner and outer surfaces of the jar stored equal but opposite charges. Benjamin Franklin was actually studying the Leyden jar, and was the first to realize that the charge was actually stored in the glass and not the water inside the jar. The storage ability or capacitance of the Leyden jar is about 1 farad, an SI measuring unit of capacitance. This great invention was one of the first inventions which helped scientist study static electricity.

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