BOOKLET

THOMAS ALVA EDISON

PRESENTEDBY:AASHITA AND NAVYA

Growing up

Edison’s parents, Samuel and Nancy.

(Edison National Historic Site 14.300/2)

Thomas Alva Edison (nicknamed Al) was

born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio.

Edison was an inquisitive boy who began

experimenting at an early age. His

hometown of Milan, Ohio, was a busy place.

Canals were the highways of the early 19th

century. The Huron Canal connected Milan

to the Huron River, which flowed into Lake

Erie, giving eventual access to the Atlantic

Ocean, making Milan an important shipping

port. But when the railroad reached that

part of Ohio, it bypassed Milan and the

town's trade faded. So when Al was seven,

the family moved to Port Huron, Michigan,

hoping for a better future.

In this new location Al's father engaged in a

variety of trades, including lumbering, land

speculation,farming, and carpentry. Seeking

a way to make money, he built a tall

observation tower beside their home.

Tourists paid a fee to climb the tower and

enjoy the expansive view of the Lake Huron

area. But the tower was never a great

money maker.

Al, the youngest child in the family, was rather sickly

and a great concern for his mother, who had

already lost two children in infancy and a third

before Al's first birthday. He had three older

brothers and sisters, only one still living at

home.

Al didn't attend public school for very long.

Instead, his mother, a former

schoolteacher, taught him at home. She

organized lessons and an extensive reading

program for her son. He loved to read and

was especially interested in science and in

what was going on in the world outside of

Port Huron

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion

picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb.

Electric light

Of course, Edison's most famous invention

to come out of Menlo Park was the light

bulb. Edison didn't invent electric lights--

there were arc lights already, which were

similar to today's street lights. They were

very, very bright so people didn't want

them inside their houses. At home, people

used gas lights, but their open flames were

dangerous and they flickered a lot.

Edison didn't just invent a light bulb, either.

He put together what he knew about

electricity with what he knew about gas

lights and invented a whole system of

electric lighting. This meant light bulbs,

electricity generators, wires to get the

electricity from the power station to the

homes, fixtures (lamps, sockets, switches)

for the light bulbs, and more. It was like a

big jigsaw puzzle--and Edison made up the

pieces as well as fitted them together.

One tough piece was finding the right

material for the filament--that little wire

inside the light bulb. He filled more than

40,000 pages with notes before he finally had a

bulb that withstood a 40 hour test in his

laboratory. (10) In 1879, after testing more that

1600 materials for the right filament, including

coconut fiber, fishing line, and even hairs from

a friend's beard, Edison and his workers finally

figured out what to use for the filament--

carbonized bamboo.

The first large-scale test of the system in the

United States took place when Edison’s Pearl

Street station in New York City’s financial

district sent electricity to lights in 25

builidings on September 4, 1882

MAKE A LIGHT BULB

Materials you will need to make a bulb

• One small jar

• Cork stopper for a lid

• A 1-inch nail

• Three feet of shielded copper wire

• One 6-volt battery--not a car battery!

• Thin iron wire (the best source for this is

unraveled picture hanging wire) Materials

you will need to record your results

• A copy of the "Record my results" form

• A watch with a seconds hand

• A pencil

IMPORTANT SAFETY HINTS: (1) This experiment needs to be done with an adult present and

supervising it! (2) Always wear safety glasses and gloves when doing experiments! (3) Be careful

handling the filaments when they burn out--they will be HOT! (4) Never play with wall

sockets or household electric currents.

Acknowledgement:

Durgesh Ma’am

Bibliography:

http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/

edison/000_story_02.asp

Thank

you