Existing comment:
A Gentleman's Laboratory:
In an era when scientists were almost always wealthy male amateurs, scientific breakthroughs occurred -- frequently by chance -- in home laboratories. Enthusiastic natural philosophers, including Franklin, would often demonstrate electrical experiments on their newly purchased equipment as entertaining party tricks.
The laboratory equipment itself varied widely. Glass tubes, for instance, were rubbed with wool or fur to produce an electrical charge. The lightning bells, Franklin's own invention, were connected to an isolated rod atop a building; they would ring whenever an electrified cloud or lightning was nearby. The Leyden jar was the world's first capacitor, or battery. With metallic conductors mounted inside and outside a glass jar (the insulator), a Leyden jar could store and transport the electric charge that was generated by the electrical apparatus. Laboratories might also contain thermometers, pneumatic air pumps, magnets, and experimental clocks, all depending on the interests and resources of the natural philosopher. |