Editing Scientific Revolution (section)

==== Electricity ====
[[File:Guericke Sulfur globe.jpg|thumb|right|[[Otto von Guericke]]'s experiments on [[electrostatics]], published 1672]]

William Gilbert, in ''De Magnete'', invented the [[Neo-Latin]] word ''electricus'' from ''{{lang|grc|ἤλεκτρον}}'' (''elektron''), the Greek word for "amber". Gilbert undertook a number of careful electrical experiments, in the course of which he discovered that many substances other than amber, such as sulphur, wax, glass, etc.,<ref name=pr>Priestley, Joseph (1757) ''History of Electricity''. London</ref> were capable of manifesting electrical properties. Gilbert discovered that a heated body lost its electricity and that moisture prevented the [[electrification]] of all bodies. He noticed that electrified substances attracted all other substances indiscriminately, whereas a magnet only attracted iron. The many discoveries of this nature earned Gilbert the title ''founder of the electrical science''.<ref name="EncyclopediaAmericana">Maver, William, Jr.: "Electricity, its History and Progress", [https://archive.org/stream/encyclopediaame21unkngoog#page/n210/mode/1up The Encyclopedia Americana; a library of universal knowledge, vol. X, pp.&nbsp;172ff]. (1918). New York: Encyclopedia Americana Corp.</ref> By investigating the forces on a light metallic needle, balanced on a point, he extended the list of electric bodies and found that many substances, including metals and natural magnets, showed no attractive forces when rubbed. He noticed that dry weather with north or east wind was the most favourable atmospheric condition for exhibiting electric phenomena—an observation liable to misconception until the difference between [[Electrical conductor|conductor]] and [[Insulator (electricity)|insulator]] was understood.<ref name="Dampier, W. C. D.">Dampier, W.C.D. (1905). The theory of experimental electricity. Cambridge physical series. Cambridge [Eng.: University Press.</ref>

Robert Boyle worked frequently at the new science of electricity and added several substances to Gilbert's list of electrics. He left a detailed account of his researches under the title of ''Experiments on the Origin of Electricity''.<ref name="Dampier, W. C. D." /> In 1675 Boyle stated that electric attraction and repulsion can act across a vacuum. One of his important discoveries was that electrified bodies in a vacuum would attract light substances, this indicating that the electrical effect did not depend upon the air as a medium.<ref name=pr/><ref name="EncyclopediaAmericana" /><ref>Benjamin, P. (1895). [https://books.google.com/books?id=hkMPAAAAMAAJ A history of electricity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208081359/https://books.google.com/books?id=hkMPAAAAMAAJ |date=8 December 2022 }}: (The intellectual rise in electricity) from antiquity to the days of Benjamin Franklin. New York: J. Wiley & Sons.</ref><ref>Boyle, Robert (1676). ''Experiments and notes about the mechanical origin or production of particular qualities''.</ref><ref>Boyle, Robert (1675) ''Experiments on the Origin of Electricity''</ref>

This was followed in 1660 by [[Otto von Guericke]], who invented an early [[electrostatic generator]]. By the end of the 17th century, researchers had developed practical means of generating electricity by friction with an electrostatic generator, but the development of electrostatic machines did not begin in earnest until the 18th century when they became fundamental instruments in the studies about the science of electricity. The first usage of the word ''electricity'' is ascribed to [[Thomas Browne]] in his 1646 work ''[[Pseudodoxia Epidemica]]''. In 1729 [[Stephen Gray (scientist)|Stephen Gray]] demonstrated that electricity could be "transmitted" through metal filaments.<ref>{{cite book | last = Jenkins | first = Rhys | title = Links in the History of Engineering and Technology from Tudor Times | publisher = Ayer Publishing | year = 1936| page = 66 | isbn = 978-0-8369-2167-0}}</ref>