electricity just think of a lightning
bolt and we know about magnets and how
they attract and repel now meet Michael
Faraday one of the greatest superstars
of science his work on the relationship
between electricity and magnets led
directly to the electric motor and the
electric generator things that have
transformed the way we live today
no wonder he's known as the father of
electricity check him out
Faraday was born on the 22nd of
September 1791 and grew up in a poor but
God-fearing family just outside London
in Newington Butts although he'd be well
over 200 years old by now the impact of
his life is still with us his father
James was a simple blacksmith from
Yorkshire who moved his family south to
London in search of work they lived
above the coach-house full of horses
with Michaels brother Robert and sister
Margaret Faraday didn't get much of an
education and finished school at just 13
a year later he became an apprentice to
Mr Riebeau,  a local book binder and
bookseller this was a key move in his
seven years with  Mr Riebau he got to
read a lot of books which was unusual
for poor kids back then one of his
favourites was conversations on
chemistry a sort of chemistry for
dummies all this reading made Faraday
want to find out more and more that's
why he would often go to lectures at the
Royal Institution given by the celebrity
scientist Sir Humphrey Davy
Michael was so super keen not to miss a
thing that he made tons of notes then he
had the nerve to bind them into a book
and sell them to Sir Humphrey Sir
Humphrey was so impressed with this
young man that when one of his chemistry
experiments went wrong and he damaged
his eyesight he decided to hire Faraday
as his assistant what a major break
Faraday now had his dream job
where
you could learn everything from this
great scientist the only snag was his
wife Lady Davyi she was a right old snob
and treated Michael like a servant
sneering and looking down on this poor
boy from a simple background that she'd
feel pretty stupid now! All this learning
had filled Faraday's brain with new
theories soon he got down to testing his
ideas about electricity and magnets with
his own experiments one of the most
famous took place in 1821
it's about electromagnetic rotation and
you could say it was the first electric
motor so what did he do he got two glass
jars and filled them with liquid mercury
because it's an excellent conductor of
electricity then he put a magnet in each
jar next he hung a wire into the glass
jars
he sent an electrical current through
the wire and hey the wire started to
turn around the magnet when he did the
opposite and held the wire still the
magnet turned by doing this Faraday
showed you can transform electrical
energy into mechanical energy very handy
this experiment was the ancestor of the
electric motor super excited by this
success
Faraday carried on experimenting like
crazy after ten long years
how many experiments is that he made his
most famous discovery in 1831 known as
electromagnetic induction which loosely
translated means electricity magnet
bring it on
can a magnet actually produce
electricity? Faraday discovered that it
could if you could move a magnet in and
out of a wire coil you can create or
induce an electric current in the wire
massive discovery the superhero
scientist Einstein had a picture of
Michael Faraday on the wall of his study
which tells you something about the
guy's status and Faraday's influence
stretches far and wide in today's world
what's great to remember in the 19th
century when exploring science was just
for rich educated toughs Faraday proved
that a self-taught self-motivated person
who work hard and kept going could make
it right to the top so next time you
flick a switch say hey thank you Michael
Faraday!
