How in the world did a glass of water shock anyone? Welcome to the crazy story of the invention of the Leyden jar: a powerful electric device that was invented by accident!
We've got electrifying hundreds of people for the King's pleasure and a bunch of masochistic (and sadistic) adrenalin junkies with some really difficult names to pronounce! Check it out!
You can find more information on the history of the Leyden Jar from:
Benjamin, P "A History of Electricity" (1898) pp. 514-536
Heilbron, J "Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries" (1979) pp. 313-320
Priestly, J "History and Present State of Electricity" (1767) pp. 84-97
Correction: Leyden is in the Netherlands not Germany. Sorry
As usual, the music in the beginning and the end is from the fabulous Kim Nalley.
ps. if you want to make your own Leyden jar it's easy, just take a bottle of water and stick a metal stick in it (I used a metal skewer). It works even better if you add some tin foil on the outside! That is it. To charge it up you can rub a tube with cloth or fur and then rub the tube against the metal stick. Or, you could do what I did and make an electricity machine with a plastic lid on a drill rubbed against rabbit fur. Remember that the outside must be grounded (connected to the ground). Have fun :P