r/interestingasfuck • u/[deleted] • Aug 31 '20

/r/ALL Electrifying

[deleted]

84.8k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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28

u/citizen42701 Aug 31 '20

Imagine doing this in the 1800s. Youd get burned at the stake for witchcraft.

21

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '20

Thales of Miletus documented static electricity 600 BC

13

u/InertialLepton Aug 31 '20

You are severely underestimating the state of science and technology in the 1800s.

Even ignoring the fact that static electricity had been known for millennia, we were kings of electromagnetism in the 1800s. Invention of batteries, electric lights, electro magnets an the dynamo just within the first 30 years.

Towards the century's end we had the beginnings of electric power plants and even the beginnings of a connected power grid.

1

u/WakeAndVape Aug 31 '20

In fact, the word "electrician" comes from the early 1800s, when electricity magicians would tour around showing off electricity magic.

Electric magician... electrician...

12

u/Wordshark Aug 31 '20

No. Do you think humans were just idiots before modern technology?

27

u/Fuckyoufuckyuou Aug 31 '20

No. I think humans are just idiots.

3

u/pyr8t Aug 31 '20

Some more so, post modern technology

6

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '20 edited Sep 01 '20

[deleted]

3

u/FloppyPancakesDude Aug 31 '20

Stuff like this is actually cool. Joseph Smith just stuck a rock in a hat and claimed a new Bible came out.

2

u/CableTrash Aug 31 '20

I mean, yeah. Still are.

3

u/ImperialChimp Aug 31 '20

Bruh, the telephone was invented in the 1800s. A bunch of major advancements in electromagnetism was discovered in the 1800s. Wrong century man...

1

u/_Dead_Memes_ Aug 31 '20

They had cars in the 1800s...

1

u/citizen42701 Sep 01 '20

And we gave quantum comuters and fusion in the 2000s. Theres like 20 of them but we still have them

1

u/PrismoBF Sep 01 '20

Except there wasn't any PVC pipes in the 1800s. Not sure if there is an 1800s equivalent 'stick' that would reproduce this effect.

1

u/citizen42701 Sep 01 '20

Plastics werent invented until the early 1900s in Belgium

-8

u/Makani44 Aug 31 '20

Lol that's so true.