Leyden jar
Botella de Leyden
- Date
- 1745-1746 · confidence high
- Place
- Leiden, Netherlands / Kammin, Pomerania
- Credited to
- Pieter van Musschenbroek (Leiden, 1746) and Ewald Georg von Kleist (Kammin, 1745), independently
- People
- 👤 Ewald Georg von Kleist1700–1748
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A glass jar with water or metal foil inside and out, storing electric charge and releasing it in a violent spark: the first capacitor. It allowed electricity to be accumulated and strong discharges to be studied experimentally.
Von Kleist discovered it in October 1745 and Musschenbroek independently in January 1746; the name was given by Nollet after the University of Leiden.
What it led to
- Franklin's experiments on the nature of lightning
- Batteries of jars and electricity as spectacle (Nollet electrocuting 700 monks)
- Electrophysiology (Galvani) and electrochemistry
- The theory of electricity as a single fluid (Franklin)
Built on
- Friction electrostatic generator1663 (Guericke) / 1705 (Hauksbee)
- Electrical conduction and insulators (Stephen Gray)1729-1732
- Gray's conductors and insulators