Media Contributed by Rick
Louis XIV Visiting the Royal Academy of Sciences Sébastien Leclerc I, France, 1671
Colbert Presenting the Members of the Royal Academy of Sciences to Louis XIV In 1667, by Henri Testelin; in the background appears the new Paris Observatory
Franklin and Electricity: Kite Experiment Cropped from The BEP engraved the vignette Franklin and Electricity (c. 1860) which was used on the $10 National Bank Note from the 1860s to 1890s
Guericke's experiments with the sulfur globe Figure V and VI from Ottonis De Guericke Experimenta Nova (ut vocantur) Magdeburgica De Vacuo Spatio, Amstelodami: Janssonius, 1672, p. 148, showing Guericke's experiments with the sulfur globe.
Metal foil Leyden jar Drawing of a Leyden jar, a piece of antique scientific apparatus used to store electric charge, from a 1919 physics textIt consists of a glass jar with tin foil coating the outside and inside surfaces. A brass electrode pierces the stopper, with a hanging chain attached which makes contact with the inner foil, so the jar can be charged. In use, the outside of the jar is connected to ground, and the central electrode is attached to a high voltage electrostatic machine. A large charge of static electricity accumulates on the inner foil, and an opposite polarity charge accumulates on the outer foil. If a wire connected to the outer foil is brought near the central electrode, a spark will jump, discharging the jar. The foil linings stop well short of the mouth of the jar so the charge on the foils can't discharge by arcing through the mouth. The glass was usually shellacked before applying the foil, because bare glass forms a partially conductive hygroscopic coating which tended to discharge the jar.
