Let There Be Light!
Perhaps the most important benefit people get from electricity is the simple act of turning on a light. There was a time when most homes relied on candles, oil lamps, or gas lamps for light. But candle or oil flames caused fires. And gas was smelly and built up dangerous fumes. But in 1876, an excited buzz surrounded a display of electric arc lamps at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The lamps produced brilliant light as electricity arched or leaped across small gaps between
