Cool Activities

Life Before Electricity

People first discovered how to make and control electricity in the 1880s. Before that time there were no electric lights, electric refrigerators, TV sets.

Have you ever lived without electricity?
Sometimes, a storm knocks down the wires, which bring electricity into our homes. This is called a power failure or blackout. If this has ever happened to you, then you have experienced for a short time what it was like to live without electricity.

• What did you miss the most?
• Were you able to find new ways to do things? For example, if none of the lights worked in your house, you might have lit candles or used a flashlight instead.

Once electricity could be generated, inventors immediately began to create machines that could use it. Some inventions created heat and others created light or motion. These inventions changed the way that people lived. Today electricity touches almost everything we do!

Match the “old-fashioned” way of doing things, (column "Old") with today’s “electronic” way of doing the same task (column "New").