Michael Faraday

The (Shocking) History & Physics of Electric Transformers

History of electric transformers from Faraday through Lenz, Sturgeon, Callan, Ruhmkorff, Gaulard, Westinghouse and more (with a description of what Tesla did and didn’t do in the evolution of electricity). Hello, my name is Kathy Joseph and I have done a lot of original research from 1800s papers, magazines, patents, and books to tell you …

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( ∈ vs. ε): Why Physicists Use 2 Forms of the Greek Letter Epsilon

When I learned Maxwell’s equations in college, I was taught to draw the permittivity with a Greek letter epsilon that looked like a c with a line in it and not like a backwards 3 like usual.  Table Of Contents Why Physicists Use 2 Forms of the Greek Letter Epsilon Image References Reference Why Physicists …

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Magnetic Fields, Electric Fields, and Elector Magnetic Waves: Physics And History

Magnetic Fields, Electric Fields, and Elector Magnetic Waves: Physics And History

I was working on a video on the physics of the Faraday cage and it became clear that not only do you need to talk about magnetic fields to explain the cage but that Faraday had actually created the idea of electric fields for that very purpose in 1837. Now I had known that Faraday …

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First Law of Thermodynamics: History of the Concept of Energy

The first law of thermodynamics is basically as follows: there are different types of energy, the energy of motion, the energy in a compressed spring, the energy of a rock lifted off the ground, the energy of heat, nuclear energy, etcetera.  Table Of Contents Emilie du Chatelet Emilie and Voltaire Newton’s Book Emilie du Chatelet’s …

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