Be Electrific Day

Be Electrific Day is celebrated on February 11 every year. This holiday honors Thomas Edison's birthday! In 1998, Carolyn Finch created this day to encourage people to not only discover electricity in the world around us, but also discover electricity in our own bodies. Electricity plays an important role with our body. Electrical energy powers our brain and sends signals throughout our body through the nervous system.

Who is Thomas Edison?

Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847 and is considered one of America's greatest inventors. He developed many inventions that we still use today. His inventions include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and most importantly; light bulb. These innovations have had a wide impact on the industrial world and the daily lives of many people. He was the first inventor of his time who combined various principles of different disciplines to create new inventions. He applied the principles of organized science to research methodology and thus had the first team of researchers working to improve the lives of many. He was the first to establish an industrial research laboratory.

During his early career, Edison was a telegraph operator, which inspired him to create many of his early inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory in New Jersey, where many of his inventions were developed. He is also interested in other fields. He then created a botanical lab in Florida along with other entrepreneurs. He was also interested in film and had a laboratory where the first studio was located. He was one of the most brilliant inventors of his time and holds more than 1,000 US patents to his name as well as patents in other countries.

Importance of electricity

Electricity is necessary for the human body to function. Even our cells are made to conduct their own currents. Signals of our nervous system are send throughout the body by using electrical currents, which allows us to move, think and feel. As we all know, everything is made up of atoms, which are made up of protons (a positive charge), neutrons (a neutral charge), and electrons (a negative charge). When these charges are not equal, it causes the atom to become positively or negatively charged. The change in charge allows electrons to move from atom to atom. Our bodies contain huge blocks of atoms that make us generate electricity that is an important thing to our survival. Electricity is fast and allows for an almost instantaneous response to control our body. If our bodies relied solely on the movement of chemicals, we would not be able to survive due to their slower reaction times. Most of the heart's functions rely on these electrical signals to regulate its function and keep us alive.

History of Be Electrific Day

Be Electrified Day was started by professional speaker, body language expert and speech pathologist Carolyn Finch. She defines electrified as "an acronym for an electrification project - which means putting light where there has never been light before." In a sense, this was done by Thomas Alva Edison, whose birthday is today, when he invented the modern light bulb. Be Electrified Day celebrates Edison's birthday, but also according to Finch, "the electricity in us." It's a day to discover electricity in our bodies.

Thomas Edison, who is known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park" and registered for 1093 patents, was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. He had no formal education and started working on the railroad before he was a teenager. In the 1860s, he began working in the telegraph, but was largely deaf, which put him at a disadvantage. He switched to inventing full time in 1869.

From 1870 to 1875, while working in Newark, New Jersey, he developed telegraph products for the Western Union Telegraph Company and its rivals. He ran into financial difficulties in late 1875, but with the help of his father, he was able to build a laboratory and machine shop in Menlo Park, New Jersey. This is the world's first industrial laboratory.

In 1877, Edison developed a carbon transmitter, which made phone calls audible, transmitting voices at a louder and clearer volume. He invented the phonograph that same year. He recorded sound on indentations on paraffin coated paper, then placed the paper under a stylus to reproduce the sound.

The following year, Edison began to focus on inventing a safe, inexpensive electric light to replace gas lamps — something scientists had been working on for half a century. After receiving the support of the Vanderbilt family and J.P. Morgan, he founded the Edison Electric Light Company, where research and development was carried out. In October 1879, he invented a light bulb that used a platinum filament. Then, in the summer of 1880, he started using carbonized bamboo as a filament, which has a longer lifespan. His incandescent lamp was exhibited at the 1881 International Electric Exposition in Paris, and at the International Electric Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in London in 1882. In 1892, his electric company merged with another company to form Power Corporation.

In the 1880s, a large estate and research laboratory were built in West Orange, New Jersey. During these years, he worked with William K.L. Dickson and used a commercial model of a phonograph to create a motion picture camera called the Kinetograph, and an observation tool called the Kinetoscope. He continued to work at the age of eighty, until his death at the age of 84 on October 18, 1931. He is known more than anyone else for his contributions to technology in the electric age, and we celebrate his birthday today, and electricity in our bodies.

How to celebrate Be Electrific Day

To celebrate Be Electrific Day, one can learn about Thomas Edison and his contributions. One can also learn about the power within us. For a more interesting route, one could rub a balloon over their head to see their hair stand up, or drag their feet across the carpet to watch the electricity work.