Philosophy
The ancient Greeks knew that if you rubbed two pieces of amber, you'd produce static electricity, but apart from that, it would be another two thousand years until this weird, invisible, ephemeral, mysterious and (literally) shocking phenomenon would be systematically studied, controlled, stored, understood and made to flow continuously. But as with any nascent science, there were false starts, one question answered only leading to more questions.
In this first installment of the documentary series Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity, professor Jim Al-Khalili explores the history of the scientific exploration of electricity through the work and incredible creativity and experimental rigor of luminaries such as Pieter van Musschenbroek with his Leyden Jar; Benjamin Franklin's famous explanation of electricity as a liquid with positive and negative charge, and yes, even the apocryphal kite story, demonstrating, like Newton had done before, that phenomena previously presumed to be heavenly in kind (thunder and lightning) were actually just instances of the same general laws that apply to mundane objects here on Earth; Henry Cavendish's experiments with the torpedo fish, which gave rise to the distinction between electric charge and voltage; Humphrey Davy's popular demonstrations at the Royal Society; the fascinating (and somewhat gruesome) dispute between the "animal" electricity of Galvani and the "no-nonsense" secular electricity of Volta; ; the isolation of chemical elements; and the prospect of resurrection and life after death...
Pure awesomeness :)
- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg In The Lab
"Lichtenberg's figures" by Andrea Sella November 4th, 2013 Chemistry World What is the most important piece of shared equipment in a laboratory nowadays? Pondering this question and being a ‘wet’ chemist (pace to the ex-chemist Margaret...
- The Glass Jar That Delivered A Jolt
Electrical Sportsman A polychromed, hand-painted model of a hunter resting on a walnut base measuring 13" x 4" with a Leyden jar and pith birds (missing.) This electrostatic demonstration apparatus was sold by many different manufacturers of philosophical...
- King Coal And Energy
Like it or not coal generated energy will be here for a long time. James McNerney. Jessika E. Trancik, and J. Doyne Farmer have written an interesting paper on coal/energy. Abstract: We study the costs of coal-fired electricity in the United States between...
- The Royal Society...new Online Papers
"The Royal Society puts historic papers online" November 30th, 2009 BBC One of the world's oldest scientific institutions is marking the start of its 350th year by putting 60 of its most memorable research papers online. The Royal Society, founded...
- Rereko, Electopia=electricity Physics
The Manga Guide to Electricity by Kazuhiro Fujitaki ISBN-10 1-59327-197-2 ISBN-13 978-1-59327-197-8 [Click to enlarge to read.] This isn't the first time that the medium of comic books has been used to teach something--especially science. Kazuhiro...
Philosophy
Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity - Spark
In this first installment of the documentary series Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity, professor Jim Al-Khalili explores the history of the scientific exploration of electricity through the work and incredible creativity and experimental rigor of luminaries such as Pieter van Musschenbroek with his Leyden Jar; Benjamin Franklin's famous explanation of electricity as a liquid with positive and negative charge, and yes, even the apocryphal kite story, demonstrating, like Newton had done before, that phenomena previously presumed to be heavenly in kind (thunder and lightning) were actually just instances of the same general laws that apply to mundane objects here on Earth; Henry Cavendish's experiments with the torpedo fish, which gave rise to the distinction between electric charge and voltage; Humphrey Davy's popular demonstrations at the Royal Society; the fascinating (and somewhat gruesome) dispute between the "animal" electricity of Galvani and the "no-nonsense" secular electricity of Volta; ; the isolation of chemical elements; and the prospect of resurrection and life after death...
Pure awesomeness :)
- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg In The Lab
"Lichtenberg's figures" by Andrea Sella November 4th, 2013 Chemistry World What is the most important piece of shared equipment in a laboratory nowadays? Pondering this question and being a ‘wet’ chemist (pace to the ex-chemist Margaret...
- The Glass Jar That Delivered A Jolt
Electrical Sportsman A polychromed, hand-painted model of a hunter resting on a walnut base measuring 13" x 4" with a Leyden jar and pith birds (missing.) This electrostatic demonstration apparatus was sold by many different manufacturers of philosophical...
- King Coal And Energy
Like it or not coal generated energy will be here for a long time. James McNerney. Jessika E. Trancik, and J. Doyne Farmer have written an interesting paper on coal/energy. Abstract: We study the costs of coal-fired electricity in the United States between...
- The Royal Society...new Online Papers
"The Royal Society puts historic papers online" November 30th, 2009 BBC One of the world's oldest scientific institutions is marking the start of its 350th year by putting 60 of its most memorable research papers online. The Royal Society, founded...
- Rereko, Electopia=electricity Physics
The Manga Guide to Electricity by Kazuhiro Fujitaki ISBN-10 1-59327-197-2 ISBN-13 978-1-59327-197-8 [Click to enlarge to read.] This isn't the first time that the medium of comic books has been used to teach something--especially science. Kazuhiro...