Family debate: Was electricity discovered or invented?

Question

There is a debate in my family about whether electricity was discovered or invented. I think it was definitely discovered. Do you agree or disagree...?

Answer 1

It was discovered... To say it was invented would mean that at one time it didn't exist until it was invented. We know that what we now call electricity existed in many natural forms (Lightning, static, Electric eel) long before any inventor created a device like a battery or Lydon jar.

Consider the invention of the light bulb we don't say that Thomas Edison discovered Light or Invented light. Edison invented a device (light bulb) that produced light from electricity.  

Answer 2

sorry, chap but I say invented

Answer 3

Agree

Answer 4

Electricity has been with us since the big bang, so you could say it was discovered. However, its applications and uses are inventions, so you are all right!

Answer 5

Both. According to www.en.wikipedia.org-

Discovery observations form acts of detecting and learning something.

And-

An invention is a new form, composition of matter, device, or process.

Answer 6

Electromagnetic Radiation, magnetic fields, positive and negative charges, voltage (electromotive force), conductivity  were definitely discovered as they occur naturally.   The apparatus for inducing reliable continuous current on a wire for use as a power source was definitely invented, but only after discovering the phenomena that make is possible.

So I say 'electricity' is a discovery, not an invention.

Answer 7

Electricity was discovered.

The methods for using, replicating and abusing it were invented.

Answer 8

Electricity was discovered, not invented, unless your parents invented lightning. Electricity in many forms occurs naturally in many places not just in thunderheads. There are sea creatures that give off electrical charges, humans have an electrical charge, there is static electricity in the air.  

Answer 9

It was discovered. Our body works using electricity so it was around long before Ben Franklin was! You win! The light bulb, however, is an invention.

Answer 10

Of course it was discovered! Did we really invent LIGHTENING?! Our bodies basically OPERATE on electricity, as well.