Rubbed amber attracts light objects

This post is also available in: Polish (polski)

Roman boar figurine made of amber

Pliny the Elder in his “Natural History” (Book XXXVII, Chapter 12) described the electrostatic properties of amber. He noticed that when rubbed with the fingers, under the influence of heat, it attracted light objects such as chaff, dry leaves and fibers. This observation of Pliny shows how ancient scholars observed and described natural phenomena that were not explained scientifically until many centuries later.

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