How did Michael Faraday invent? - with David Ricketts
How can we all innovate like Faraday? Find out with David Ricketts. You'll also learn about the history and the future of innovation, including emerging applications of electric motors to replace jet aeroplane motors, self-flying cars and more.
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On 3 September 1821, Michael Faraday invented the electric motor. This invention took him just one day, and it has since revolutionised our world.
What was Faraday's innovative process? And how can we learn to innovate from Faraday's work?
In true Ri tradition, this talk will illustrate Faraday's innovation process through multiple demonstrations, including those done by Faraday himself, alongside new ones that reveal the inner workings of Faraday's innovative process.
This lecture was filmed on 26 July 2022
0:00 Introduction
2:34 The story of Michael Faraday
6:18 The zeitgeist of the 1820s
13:32 Faraday entering the electromagnetic landscape
20:09 Why are new ideas hard?
24:08 Faraday's reframing of the problem
29:31 Building prototypes
35:57 The electric motor
45:18 The generation of electricity
51:13 Demonstrating the Earth's magnetic field
David Ricketts is an Innovation Fellow in the Technology and Entrepreneurship Centre at Harvard University. He works with organisations around the globe, such as Mastercard, Ubisoft, Disney, General Motors, Dell and Ferrari to accelerate innovation.
David is also an accomplished academic, having his work appear twice in Nature as well as other distinguished publications and books. He is the recipient of the National Science Foundation (US) CAREER award and the DARPA Young Faculty Award for his work on nano-electromagnetic devices. His innovations include a re-programmable, self-assembling matter, an American football tracking for sports visualisation with Disney/ESPN, and an advanced wireless power systems for next generation cars with General Motors Research.
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If we owe a debt to Mr Faraday, and as a fellow of the R.I, then perhaps his resting place in Highgate cemetery needs to be tidied and cleaned up, its overgrown and hidden up against a wall, both he and his wife Sarah are there...I was shocked at how unkept it was......and we owe that man so much...
Lesson from king David, weep for the living not dead. This means, while help maintaining Mr Faraday and family grave is good. It is better seek out and treat Mr Faraday's descendants to a drink or meal. Best is befriend to them.
@@cronostvg there is nothing wrong with honoring those who have gone before.
Are you actually going to do something about it or is saying something should be done honorable enough!? 😆
@@hyperspacejester7377 Speaking to be heard more often than not requires not speaking at all.
@@richarddemaray9775 Uh... well said!
The collaboration between James Maxwell and Michael Faraday is grossly under-appreciated and truly revolutionary to Physics and our contemporary technology.
I agree with your analysis. Maxwell established Mathematically that Faraday was correct all along when nobody believed him i.e.what Faraday was saying about electric and magnetic properties of light was correct
I'm smart in my own ways, but not smart enough to understand much of what you demonstrated. Thank you for explaining it to everyone else.
Yes.. Did they invent zee slinky?
@@joeswampdawghenry "What's the go a that?", JCM.
Another home run by the RI. A fascinating look into Michael Faraday's innovative genius. Thank you Dr. Ricketts.
He touched the sacred notebook without gloves!
Told by paper conservator that the loss of dexterity from gloves leads to more damage than using clean bare hands
That’s correct. The RI has a full time staff conservator who trained me. No gloves on paper!
@@davidricketts7975 Did the final demonstration really work or did it just rotate from inertia?
It rotated on its own. I developed the demo in the RI prep room. it rotates the same way anywhere in the building. Sulfuric acid has some bubbles that sometimes it needs a little push to get started, but it will continue to rotate for as long as we leave the power on. Verity would diffuse mercury with a thin layer of nitric acid on it. @@beestingza
Amazing how Faraday's book is written with a pen and has no mistakes crossed out. I can't even write a grocery list without screwing something up!
My grocery list is composed in Notepad, then printed out. 😂 🤣
We can 'scribble' our notes first - then write them out meticulously. Have people forgotten how to write? We sketch it out first - if we are hand-writing. We could do things before Photoshop. Artists often painted over mistakes or made sketches first.
Perhaps Faraday invented Tipex
I like the presenter's best efforts to recognize the contribution of Faraday in science.
There are some excellent biographies that go into much more detail out there. One of my favorite scientists, self taught, humble beginnings and way ahead of everyone else. Oh, and changed the world in a most profound way.
I just stopped at 14:19 and said "WOW!". Faraday was a great student in the right place at the right time. All these folks were focused and astute. What a joy these demonstrations are and this summery is. This is a Great presentation.
The PPT explaining creativity is outstanding. Mr. Faraday was at another level. Thank you David!!!
It must be a privilege to study at this university. So much great history. I am grateful to live in this internet-age because I can self-study everything I want thanks to the universities and other educational entities, who upload lectures on KZhead . In the times I was a student (80's) I would never be able to see things like the Feynman lectures, or f.i. a lecture from Shockley explaining how the transistor works. Besides that I am not English. Also love the other lectures from the R.I. although I am mostly interested in electronics and physics, I even watched most other videos because a good teacher makes all subjects interesting to watch. So R.I. thanks for sharing these lectures. I would love to see a video about the history of the R.I and see things like the office of Faraday and the building to get a feel of how it must have been to study there.
The way that discoveries were made is as interesting as the science itself!
..pa4tim ..You are "English" enough that I understood every word you posted! (if me knowing American/English qualifies?) If we endeavor to learn online as you say, instead of wasting time with other things, we will enrich our minds & find satisfaction in understanding Applied Physics. 🇺🇸 😎👍☕
The Royal Institution isn't a University, though, it's a study group, spun off from The Royal Society, itself rooted in Gresham College, which still flourishes, and is far older than any of London University's Colleges, although it's vocation is similar to Birkbeck's. The Society and Institution are more scientifically orientated, but should not be confused with the constituent bodies of the Council of Engineering Institutions, which are the Professional support foci.
@@JelMain ... its vocation ... (the possessive pronoun has no apostrophe!)
@@SpeccyMan It does in English English, as it once read "his vocation" c1600. It does not in American English, because you're unendurably slapdash as a nation - to the point I want no more of you, good or bad, essentially because the good have perverted themselves by inaction, which comes back to the same thing, the cardinal sin of Acedia, sloth, not doing the things you should have done.
I truly loved this lecture. My entire career has involved innovation and prototyping, while I’m at a level far removed from Faraday, I’ve used many of the same methods to achieve my goals. Not being professionally trained, I believe, allowed me to make some intuitive leaps that professional engineers weren’t able to see. Thank you for the wonderful explanation I’ve been trying to put into words for decades.
To help power equipment in outer space: (copy and paste from my files): Potential endless energy source basically anywhere in this universe: a. Small aluminum cones with an electrical wire running through the center of the cones, cones spaced apart (not touching I'm thinking) but end to end. b. Electromagentic radiation energy in the atmosphere interacts with the aluminum cones. c. Jostled atoms and molecules in the cone eventually have some electrons try to get away from other electrons of which those electrons gather at the larger end of the cone, of which also creates an area of positive charge at the smaller end of the cone. d. The electron's in the wire are attracted to the positive end of the cone and the positive 'end' in the wire are attracted to the negatively charged end of the cone. e. Basically a 'battery' has been created inside the electrical wire itself, different areas of electrical potential. Basically a 'wire battery' or a 'batteryless battery', however one wanted to call it. f. Numerous cones placed end to end increases the number of 'batteries' in the wire. (In series to increase voltage, in parallel to increase amperage). * Via QED (Quantum Electro Dynamics) whereby electromagnetism interacts with electrons in atoms and molecules, one would have to find the correct 'em' frequency for the correct material being utilized for the cones. The shape of the cones could also come into play. The type and size of the wire as well as the type and thickness of the insulation between the cones and the wire would also be factors. * Of course also, possibly 2D triangles made up of certain materials with a conductor going down through the center of the triangle could possible achieve the same 'batteryless' battery system. * Plus possibly with the 2D concept, layered 2D's that absorb different energy frequencies, thereby increasing the net output.
To help protect against at least some harmful cosmic radiation: (copy and paste from my files): MODIFIED MOLECULES: More dense molecules with potentially new characteristics created primarily for potentially better protections from harmful cosmic radiation in outer space as well as different applications on planets and moons. Setup: a. A more complex molecule. b. It exists under: 1. A certain gravitational energy field. 2. Under certain electrical interactions. 3. Under certain magnetic interactions. 4. In a certain temperature. 5. In a certain pressure. Modification: a. Change 1 or more of the above items to change the shape of the molecule. Effects: (When modification item[s] removed): a. Molecule returns to it's original shape. b. Molecule returns to a shape larger than it's original shape. c. Molecule returns to a shape smaller than it's original shape. d. If larger than or smaller than it's original shape, then possibly the same molecule with different interacting characteristics, and if smaller than it's original shape, then a more dense molecule. e. Other atoms and/or molecules might be able to be attached to this 'new' material, and the 'new' larger molecule could possibly be modified as above yet again and on and on. The possibilities are virtually endless. f. New 'space age' material being formed for various uses.
I am so lucky to be alive in an age when I can experience such excellent lectures at the Royal Institution from my rural Illinois farmhouse! Thank you to everyone who supports this Institution.
Just think how appreciative Abe Lincoln would feel today! We have no excuse! You go, girl!
YOU conveniently fail to recognize Nicola Tesla ! shame
Excellent presentation by Dr. Ricketts to demonstrate Faraday's insights or genius 200 yrs ago. I enjoyed it.
"I once was blind but now I see". A great example of how we perceive information, and how we think. 1830's, the same time as Thoreau and Emerson... I think.
I cannot even imagine the delight he must have felt in his discoveries. Keep your child like wonder alive!😁
I can't say how grateful I am to the RI and how much effort they put into making these inspiring and mind-blowing videos. I was teaching myself electromagnetic induction for GCSE Physics, and while reading my CGP guide, I remembered doesn't magnetism have something to do with somebody named Michael Faraday? And then I go on to read about him on the RIS website. leading me to this wonderful lecture. I was utterly dazzled but also saddened by the fact that we GCSE students just learn about the basic concepts whilst kept ignorant of the centuries of hard work and innovations of brilliant scientists. Not only did this lecture help me understand the topic of magnetism, but I also got an insight into the minds that made it possible, and how - it's just so inspiring. I just wish more people and young minds that have a love of science and curiosity discover this channel.
Always love watching the lectures. Thank you.
Visualizing magnetic fields was always confusing to me because of all the little windings in the DC motors I would play around with as a child. There's so much happening inside of the 'modern' motors. Great presentation! Peace
Think circuit as flow.
Actually, when Faraday presented the book of notes to Humphrey Davy, there was no job opening. But the following year when Davy's assistant left, Davy remembered the book he had received from Faraday and offered him the position.
Michael Faraday is one of my favourite scientists
I love Michael Faraday's story. Very inspirational!
Superb demonstrations using similar crude devices of the day. Painful to watch at times, but the principles were correctly demonstrated. I do fully understand these principles, being in Electronics for 55 years. The one phrase left out was Back EMF. Backward Electro Motive Force, which is represented by the Magnetic field collapsing when the Voltage is removed. Without it, a motor or a generator would not run.
It's beautiful to see those young men (probably, 8, 9 or 10 years) be introduced to electromagnetic induction at such a young age, more so the thought process and practical aspect that led to the motor we have today. Where I'm from, engineering students have to memorize Abomasum, and head, thorax and abdomen of a grasshopper.
Love this seminar. very well explained. thanks for posting.
I am not sure why but it always makes me a little bit sad to see empty seats in this legendary lecture hall. I love these demonstrations and hope to attend one day.
I was thinking exactly the same. If only this was in my city, there would be students standing on the stairs, and walkways, just to be able to see these demonstrations.
I was surprised that you were allowed to touch such an important reference book without wearing gloves.
Great demonstration and lecture about Michael Faraday and the process of innovation. Thank you so much for this and have a phenomenal day.
FANTASTIC RECREATION WHAT MICHAEL FARADAY DID IN 19TH CENTURY ! I APPRECIATE IT BY HEART AND SOUL . THANKS !
this was a nice discussion and demonstration. i worked with electricity my whole life, in my early days as a radio transmitter repairman in the u.s. air force and then as a lineman for a local municipal power company for 40+ years. i knew of faraday but mostly as a value of capacitance. it was a bit of a refresher on the early rudimentary basics of electricity. sometimes one forgets and then remembers about how much one has learned, known and experienced in life. thnx.
So very interested and entertaining. I spent 50 years in the electrical field and familiar with Faraday. I didn't know much about his early work. Thank you very much.
spectacular presentation!
Thanks by the way for a great presentation!
I was on the edge of my seat. This is crazy good storytelling.
When I read about the early days of our mastery of electricity, I always wonder how they physically got from one point to the next--what they were actually doing with their hands and with what apparatus, etc. I spend a lot of time thinking about this type of thing, and seeing it replicated in this video fills in the blanks better than anything I've ever encountered. Thank you, RI.
This is beautiful! This is a fine example of how great the internet can be! Amazing thinking, great works of art, and new ideas exchanged! ❤️
Faraday's an absolute hero of mine. I'm an electrical engineer now.
Michael Faraday was just Genius. And I am an electrical Engineer. I can appreciate his brilliant mind.
a brilliant scientist, but sadly his theories weren't originally accepted amongst his peers. Faraday, although a great experimental scientist, wasn't a mathematician, so was unable to prove his theories regarding electrical/magnetic fields. fortunately, years later, he met and befriended the equally brilliant, mathematician, James Clerk Maxwell, who was able to formulate all of Faraday's experimental work & prove him right
@@johncarlisle6865 James Clarke Maxwell, I place him next to Sir Isaac Newton. He opened the door of modern science. Genius, no other word for this great mind & personality. We learned Electromagnetic Waves & Radiating System in college. It amazed me.
@@amritpatel3794 he's not known as the Scottish Einstein for nothing, & yet sadly, very few people outside of the science/electrical engineering realm have actually heard of him & that includes Scottish people
@@johncarlisle6865 I saw the video on KZhead. Even common Scotish can not recognized his statue in a middle of the town. So sad. He died too early.
@@johncarlisle6865 My best friend, college colleague, started a company in India. And he kept his company's name, Maxwell Automation, in honour of James Clark Maxwell.
Thank you for a wonderful presentation.
Truly incredible and educational. The voice demo was eye-opening. Faraday was really something.
Thank you for this lecture, owesome genius man in history
Good lecture hindered by poorly produced experiments.
The techies also really should have adjusted his mic to stop us hearing his nasal breathing. Really distracting. And he skipped so much interesting detail - like he couldn’t wait to finish and go home; seemed impatient with his volunteers too.
Poorly produced lecture too. He took "next slide please" to a new exasperating extreme.
Yes -such a shame. It isnt that difficult to produce decent demo equipment that gives predictable results. Especially when doing it for the RI !! Really was embarrassing to see him trying to get poorly produced demos to work - then giving half hearted apologies to his audience when they didn't work I think it was poorly planned, poorly rehearsed -and when it went wrong - he had nowhere to turn. ( apart from "turning the next slide2) And as for the disguised recording of "celebrating 200 years of the electric motor etc" - who the heck thought that was a good idea ??. A good lecture but I doubt if it did true justice to MF.
Superb lecture. Thank you
Magnificent! Many thanks for this lesson!!!
The great INVENTOR, MICHAEL FARADAY !
These talks are super interesting. I've seen a couple and they are good.
Just love the insights RI lectures give. As Faraday said "beautiful" Thanks!
Great lecture and very interesting in various aspects (history of science, the cumulative process of science, technology and innovation, electricity teaching, creativity). All in less than 1 hour.
Nice show for those present - shame some of the demos were over before the cameras could catch up!
Enjoyed your presentation. What a honor for you to be at RI. S/V North Star is in Ensenada, MX after 5yrs Sea of Cortez we are done.
That was brilliant. Thanks for sharing.
I became a fan of Michael Faraday when I was grade 8 (14 yrs old) I still like his physics.
What a great clip with a lot effort in
Wonderful history lesson.
Wonderfull presentation ,one of the most important step into human history ...
Thank you for the video.
Excellent video, really enjoyed it.
Superb lecture
Fascinating, Faraday sent hardware to others, surely a first for "open source hardware". And his thought process unconstrained by a proscribed, taught, well trodden path.
best demo I have seen of Faradays work, thanks
You must have been watching something else ?
Mike, I absolutely love that you include the extended model precip totals. Of course it's fantasy land but it's still fascinating to us weather nerds
excellent lecture and demos
Beautiful. First principles and an open mind.
I completly agree with the fact that he was not only a scientist,I Watched some documentaries about his Life and read one of his books and I immediatly realized the same thing.He was especially a person Who understood and tried to make through physic the Natural world seeable to everyone.
Wonderful lecture. So easy to follow and enlightening. Michael Faraday is one my heroes. Another innovator who later put electromagnetism to practical use was American inventor Thomas Davenport who invented a DC electric motor.
Wonderful told story.
insights change everything.
Immersed in a fluid, thank you Royal Institution. Thank you, David Ricketts.
Who else got instant anxiety when he started handling Michael Faraday's book without gloves? It still makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it.
Instead of Mercury, non-toxic Gallium metal heated to above its melting point of 29C may be used.
That was fantastic thank you
Thankyou for this RI. Magic delivery about magical methods, pure magic...Imagined I was watching Micheal Faraday from within the RI theatre back in the 1820s but really on my TV , truly entertaining and profoundly mysterious
If everyone in the factories took as many safety precautions as you did for every slightly hazardous job.. nothing would ever get done. We are all fortunate that skilled labor takes the chances that they do.
And indeed -there was NO need for it!! - He isnt inviting members of the audience up to do anything contentious. As fa as I could see there was nothing more "dangerous" than a 9V pp3 battery !!
I bet Faraday and all the other scientists interested in electricity would've loved to have the magnets that we have available today
Excellent presentation..
Awesome experiments.
Loved the one-off demo of the motor on the earth's magnetic field! I would love to see the breakdown of a modern electric motor and electricity generator with Faraday's principles. Had a Lego train in early 80s with an engine that used an electric motor, powered off a big old D-cell battery.. The kids' 2000's toys had a few motors, of various torques. I would love to see how potential difference (voltage/Alesandro Volta) and current (amperage/André-Marie Ampère) affect the motion of electric motors... A fly v. an eagle... Thanks! Love RI vids.
brilliant man
beautiful!
excellent. thank you
Listening intently
It would be great to do an animation of Faradays actual use of mercury to develop his ideas.
Mercury was used just to negate the friction. That's all.
@@twt000 and power delivery, closing the circuit.
@@jyvben1520 There was a crude mercury switch?
For more history on Faraday's experiments and how James Maxwell mathematized them, I highly recommend the book _Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field_ , by Nancy Forbes and Basil Mahon. One of the best non-technical science books I've ever read.
Fn great!! thank you!
Nice job!
I watch a lot of lectures of that kind, as an electronics technician, but I find this one having poorly made experimental devices to prove Faraday's observations and kind of messy presentation of the progression of his thoughts. On the other side I enjoyed the displayed pages of that marvelous historic book. But it's still enjoyable for history of science lovers.
Thanks!
Very nice presentation! Like a lot to understand Faraday's history and how the world he was living in.
"The Structure of Scientific Revolution" by T.S. Kuhns beautifully describes the paradigm shift. You see the world one way yet anomalies appear. To answer the reason for them you need to see it a different way and when you do; the world changes.
great stuff
I enjoyed the process of discovery by recreating experiments with genuine equipment used by Faraday. I only have a problem with the digital and mechanical detectors. In fact, this is (after viewing many other videos all using modern day detection equipment) what aroused my interest at the start- only to be disappointed at the end. But definitely a very interesting lecture!
It seems to me that in the last experiment the rotation should have been clockwise (CW) when viewed from above. Every time it was pushed in the CCW direction, it slowed down and wanted to reverse to CW, but each time it was nudged again in the wrong direction. I'm assuming that the black wire is negative, and the red wire is positive, and the Earth's flux is pointing somewhat downward, and the current flows inward on the spokes (conventional flow is positive to negative,) or the electron flow is outward on the spokes (electron flow is negative to positive.)
Well, it certainly didn't work, though Ricketts acted as if (pretended?) it did. (ca. 53:00 to 55:00) and it DOES *seem* to work when the assistant pushes it clockwise ca. 54:00, it's uncertain, but it is clear it stops at 55:25 after Ricketts pushes it (after apparently coasting).
Might be right there, as it didn't spin very well when he did it
The weight of the solder connection on the loop may have contributed to the situation. Would have to play with it for a while.
Fleming's left-hand rule for motors says it should have turned clockwise when viewed from above. The index finger is pointed downward in the direction of the Earth's magnetic flux. The middle finger is pointed towards the center pivot point in the direction of the "conventional" current flow which is positive to negative. The thumb points in the direction of motion which in this case is clockwise. I performed the experiment myself to verify this, and it worked. The torque is extremely weak.
@@solarfluxman8810 Cool. What current and voltage did you use? (and how many turns?)
37:40 - If you add a piece of opaque tape to the screw (like a little "flag"), it makes the rotation much easier to see.
Had no clue he built a motor which worked with the earths magnetic lines of force field. Didn't even have a clue it was possible. I keep learning thankyou RI!
Bravo!!!
I have always imagined what it would have been like if Faraday and Tesla were best friends or Brothers. We would all be flying around in our own space ships by now.
he was fortunate to meet another genius in James Clerk Maxwell, but I agree with you & wish all 3 of them could have met & put their Mega brains together
This is a very good lecture. All I want to do is devote the rest of my life to overcoming human disabilities.
A brilliant lecture and demonstration, so informative... There is however one major point missing... What made the difference, only hinted to in this video, is Faraday's theoretical contribution, which I feel is no less critical than his experimental contribution, and the former led directly to the latter. Faraday was indeed not using mathematics, but he had a genius imagination of the kind Newton and Einstein had: Faraday could visualize the electric and magnetic fields in his mind's eye, and he did thousands of thought experiments before discovering his physical experiments. I am sure he was dreaming much of these fields at night. While hearing this lecture, I stopped before any demo and visualized the fields in my mind, arriving exactly to the shown results. For me today it is easy: What I know of the fields today is taught in basic physics classes and is exactly the refined sum of Faraday's intuition expressed by later mathematicians in the language of mathematics. Faraday realized that the fields are independent entities and are the major players - not the charges, currents, or bar magnets. Faraday could not avoid knowing a bit of Newton's way of thinking, since it was the language of science at his times, and he did invest much in learning science from encyclopedia Britannica, plus attending lectures. His insight, however, led him to realize that in electricity and magnetism we deal with something fundamentally different. Faraday's genuine insight led directly to the paradigm transition from massive particles to fields and waves. This new insight is as great as the best of what Newton ever did. Only Faraday's fields enabled electromagnetism, relativity, and quantum mechanics to be later discovered. James Clerk Maxwell read the writing of Faraday carefully and, as he says it himself: All I had to do was just to translate Faraday's insight into mathematics. This enabled Maxwell to discover the full and complete laws of electromagnetism and deduce the existence of electromagnetic waves and then discover that visible light is an electromagnetic wave. Maxwell was the only one able to make this genius breakthrough since he internalized Faraday's new insight. Other mathematicians tried to deduce everything from Coulomb law, which looks exactly as Newton's universal gravitation law. Maxwell was the only mathematician who followed Faraday's new insight, which made all the difference and enabled electromagnetics. In short, Faraday was a theoretical physicist as much as he was an experimental physicist. The last claim is not so apparent since he was not using mathematics. Still, his thinking was as deductive as mathematics is. Einstein is very similar to Faraday in this respect since Einstein imagined relativity first and only then used elementary mathematics to describe his special relativity. With this same imagination and insight, Einstein, rather than all other better mathematicians, was able to formulate general relativity. In my opinion, genius imagination makes all significant breakthroughs in theoretical physics. Mathematics is no more than a language used to express it later. Physics is about understanding by insight how she behaves - the rest follows. Dr. David Goren
Brilliant! The innovations of an "uneducated" man also at a time when the class system was rife in Europe, a time of "Gentleman" scholars with leisure and means. And with all that he still manages,through self education and experiment to become a fellow of the Royal Institute. 😎
When the R.I has half the audience missing you know there is trouble ahead!
It's an amazing lecture. But what I don't understand: when he demonstrates how the bent wire is supposed to go around, @32:30 doesn't that also happen with a simple "repel" action since there's a fixed axis?
excellent!