How did Michael Faraday invent? – with David Ricketts

This paragraph introduces Michael Faraday's groundbreaking invention of the electric motor on September 3rd, 1821, at The Royal Institution. It emphasizes Faraday's innovative spirit and his major contributions to modern daily life through his discoveries in electromagnetism. The speaker aims to walk the audience through Faraday's journey, highlighting the connection between his work and the electric car technology of today. The concept of innovation as insights and value is introduced, with Faraday's deep understanding and unique solutions as the prime example.

This section delves into Michael Faraday's early life, highlighting his humble beginnings as a bookbinder's apprentice and his keen interest in science. It narrates how Faraday's dedication led him to attend lectures by renowned scientists and his unique approach of transcribing and binding these lectures' notes, which he shared with Sir Humphry Davy. The speaker discusses the role of serendipity in Faraday's career, emphasizing that his commitment and passion for discovery were key to his success.

The paragraph discusses the revolutionary invention of the voltaic pile, which transformed physics and engineering in the early 1800s. It credits Alessandro Volta for this transformative technology and highlights the importance of the battery, which enabled the discovery of electromagnetism. The speaker references the global impact of this technology, including the work of scientists like Hans Christian Orsted and André-Marie Ampère, and sets the stage for Faraday's subsequent contributions.

This part focuses on André-Marie Ampère's discoveries in the field of electromagnetism, particularly his understanding of the magnetic field created by a current-carrying loop and its interaction with other magnetic fields. It describes Ampère's traditional scientific approach and his significant contributions to the understanding of electromagnetism, which laid the foundation for Faraday's later work. The speaker uses interactive demonstrations to illustrate the principles of attraction and repulsion in electromagnetism.

The paragraph describes Michael Faraday's experiments on September 3rd, 1821, where he observed the interaction between a current-carrying wire and a magnetic needle. Faraday noticed that the needle's behavior was more complex than previously thought, attracting and repelling at different points. This insight led him to question the existing understanding of direct forces in physics and marked the beginning of his revolutionary work in electromagnetism.

This section discusses the challenges of innovation and the importance of reframing problems to discover new solutions. The speaker uses the example of a volunteer reading a coded message to illustrate how a fresh perspective can lead to innovation. It highlights Faraday's ability to think differently and consider alternative explanations, which was crucial in his discovery of electromagnetic rotation and the invention of the electric motor.

In this part, the speaker describes Faraday's thought experiment, where he conceptualized a wire moving around a magnetic needle, contrary to the conventional understanding. This thought experiment was a significant leap in the history of electromagnetism and led to the invention of the electric motor. The speaker demonstrates this concept through an actual experiment, showing a wire rotating around a magnet, which is a visual representation of Faraday's innovative idea.

This paragraph discusses the prototyping process in innovation, using the example of a grandmother's modified remote control to illustrate the concept. It then connects this to Faraday's creation of a prototype for the electric motor, where he used a shaped wire to test his idea of rotation around a magnet. The speaker demonstrates this with a hands-on experiment, showing the wire rotating and eventually leading to the final design of the electric motor.

The speaker reflects on Michael Faraday's value proposition, which was not just scientific discovery but also making the natural world understandable to everyone. Faraday's dedication to public lectures and creating visible artifacts, like the small electric motor he sent to scientists across Europe, played a significant role in disseminating knowledge and generating value for society.

This section explores the early experiments that led to the discovery of magnetic induction. The speaker describes how placing compasses in metal and wooden boxes revealed the interaction between magnets and metals. The demonstrations show how moving a magnet near metal can cause the compass needle to spin indefinitely, indicating an interaction that intrigued scientists like Arago, Ampère, and Faraday, ultimately leading to the concept of magnetic induction.

The speaker presents the experiment that Michael Faraday conducted to demonstrate magnetic induction, where he used a hand-wound coil and a battery to generate an electric current. The demonstration shows the coil's movement in response to the magnetic field, highlighting the importance of change or 'cutting' the magnetic field to induce electricity. Faraday's frustration with the lack of visual excitement in the demonstration is also mentioned, contrasting with his successful experiments with the electric motor.

In this part, the speaker attempts to re-enact one of Faraday's lesser-known experiments, which involved creating a motor that runs on the Earth's magnetic field. The speaker describes the challenge of this experiment and the historical context, including Faraday's exchange with Ampère. The demonstration involves a wire setup designed to rotate within the Earth's magnetic field, and despite initial difficulties, the speaker successfully gets the setup to rotate, showcasing Faraday's innovative spirit and the enduring relevance of his work.

The speaker concludes the presentation by highlighting the key factors that made Michael Faraday such a successful innovator. These include his non-traditional education, which allowed him to think creatively and outside the box, his ability to see things others did not, and his method of prototyping and reframing problems. The speaker emphasizes Faraday's intelligence and his unique approach to understanding and visualizing the physical world, which continues to inspire and inform modern scientific endeavors.