National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Kelvin Water Dropper
The legendary Lord Kelvin made electricity from water with this ingenious electrostatic generator. (Java tutorial)
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Pixii Machine
This "magneto-electric machine" was the first to turn motion into electricity. (Java tutorial)
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Electrostatic Generator 1706
Otto von Guericke's electrostatic machine evolved into increasingly improved instruments in the hands of later scientists. In the early 1700s, an Englishman named Francis Hauksbee designed his own electrostatic generator, a feat stemming...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Magneto 1832
The magneto helped fire up the first generation of automobiles.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Gramme Dynamo 1871
Zenobe Theophile Gramme (1826 - 1901) invented the first industrial generator, or dynamo. A deceptively simple-looking machine, it consisted of 30 coils wrapped around a spinning ring of iron.