You can create light with electricity with two carbon rods to make an arc light. It was literally the first electric light source and in widespread use for a long while, along with incandescent bulbs.
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Honytawk@lemmy.zip 11 months ago
It isn’t so hard really, to make electricity even in the olden days.
A dynamo is just a copper wire with a magnet spinning inside.
Making a copper wire you can accomplish by having a hole at the bottom of a kiln that drops directly into a big vat of water. Or even just drawing a line in the sand and pouring it in there.
Getting your hands on a natural magnet might pose more problems, but ultimately those are found in nature. So they should have already been dug up by someone.
Using the electricity usefully is harder. Since creating a light bulb needs access to gasses. What could we even use the electricity for?
dustyData@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Comment105@lemm.ee 11 months ago
You just invented cumbersome fire. Ugh ugh. No good.
dustyData@lemmy.world 11 months ago
And we illuminated streets with that for half a century.
Comment105@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I’m a caveman, I have night vision, why need pretty lamps?
NOPper@lemmy.world 11 months ago
You use it to charge your phone, duh.
HardlightCereal@lemmy.world 11 months ago
You should watch Dr Stone
Destraight@lemm.ee 11 months ago
This is exhilarating
CADmonkey@lemmy.world 11 months ago
You can run a carbon arc lamp without glass bulbs, and without a huge voltage.
PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Electrocuting elephants?
Marcbmann@lemmy.world 11 months ago
If you can make a dynamo, you can make a motor. Now, you aren’t about to create Tesla. But there’s plenty of things back in the day that could benefit from being motorized.
Comment105@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Could you also do ac/dc conversion ti make the electricity useful elsewhere? I’m guessing charging and transporting primitive batteries won’t be able to fulfill any useful purpose at all.
Rubanski@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Also making carbon Zink batteries should be possible, so a handheld fan would definitely be a possibility and would already be mind blowing