Michael Faraday Totally Explained

Everything about Michael Faraday totally explained

Michael Faraday, FRS (September 22, 1791 – August 25, 1867) was an English chemist and physicist (or natural philosopher, in the terminology of that time) who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.
   Faraday studied the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a DC electric current, and established the basis for the magnetic field concept in physics. He discovered electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis. He established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena. His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became viable for use in technology.
   As a chemist, Faraday discovered benzene, investigated the clathrate hydrate of chlorine, invented an early form of the bunsen burner and the system of oxidation numbers, and popularized terminology such as anode, cathode, electrode, and ion.
   Although Faraday received little formal education and knew little of higher mathematics, such as calculus, he was one of the most influential scientists in history. Some historians of science refer to him as the best experimentalist in the history of science. The SI unit of capacitance, the farad, is named after him, as is the Faraday constant, the charge on a mole of electrons (about 96,485 coulombs). Faraday's law of induction states that a magnetic field changing in time creates a proportional electromotive force.
   Faraday was the first and foremost Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, a position to which he was appointed for life.

Early life

Michael Faraday was born in Newington Butts, part of South London, England. His family wasn't well off. His father, James, was a member of the Sandemanian sect of Christianity. James Faraday had come to London ca 1790 from Outhgill in Westmorland, where he'd been the village blacksmith. The young Michael Faraday, one of four children, having only the most basic of school educations, had to largely educate himself. At fourteen he became apprenticed to a local bookbinder and bookseller George Riebau and, during his seven-year apprenticeship, he read many books, including Isaac Watts' The Improvement of the Mind, and he enthusiastically implemented the principles and suggestions contained therein. He developed an interest in science and specifically in electricity. In particular, he was inspired by the book Conversations in Chemistry by Jane Marcet. At the age of twenty, in 1812, at the end of his apprenticeship, Faraday attended lectures by the eminent English chemist Humphry Davy of the Royal Institution and Royal Society, and John Tatum, founder of the City Philosophical Society. Many tickets for these lectures were given to Faraday by William Dance (one of the founders of the Royal Philharmonic Society). Afterwards, Faraday sent Davy a three hundred page book based on notes taken during the lectures. Davy's reply was immediate, kind, and favorable. When Davy damaged his eyesight in an accident with nitrogen trichloride, he decided to employ Faraday as a secretary. When John Payne, one of the Royal Institution's assistants, was fired, Sir Humphry Davy was asked to find a replacement. He appointed Faraday as Chemical Assistant at the Royal Institution on March 1.
   Faraday worked extensively in the field of chemistry, discovering chemical substances such as benzene (which he called bicarburet of hydrogen), inventing the system of oxidation numbers, and liquefying gases such as chlorine. In 1820 Faraday reported on the first syntheses of compounds made from carbon and chlorine, C₂Cl₆ and C₂Cl₄, and published his results the following year. Faraday also determined the composition of the chlorine clathrate hydrate, which had been discovered by Humphry Davy in 1810.
   Faraday also discovered the laws of electrolysis and popularised terminology such as anode, cathode, electrode, and ion, terms largely created by William Whewell.
   Faraday was the first to report what later came to be called metallic nanoparticles. In 1847 he discovered that the optical properties of gold colloids differed from those of the corresponding bulk metal. This was probably the first reported observation of the effects of quantum size, and might be considered to be the birth of nanoscience.

Electricity and magnetism

Faraday's greatest work was probably with electricity and magnetism. The first experiment which he recorded was the construction of a voltaic pile with seven halfpence pieces, stacked together with seven disks of sheet zinc, and six pieces of paper moistened with salt water. With this pile he decomposed sulphate of magnesia (first letter to Abbott, July 12, 1812).
In 1821, soon after the Danish physicist and chemist, Hans Christian Ørsted discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetism, Davy and British scientist William Hyde Wollaston tried but failed to design an electric motor.
Faraday's breakthrough came when he wrapped two insulated coils of wire around an iron ring,, and found that upon passing a current through one coil, a momentary current was induced in the other coil.

Public service

Beyond his scientific research into areas such as chemistry, electricity, and magnetism at the Royal Institution, Faraday undertook numerous, and often time-consuming, service projects for private enterprise and the British government. This work included investigations of explosions in coal mines, being an expert witness in court, and the preparation of high-quality optical glass. In 1846, together with Charles Lyell, he produced a lengthy and detailed report on a serious explosion in the colliery at Haswell County Durham which killed 95 miners. Their report was a meticulous forensic investigation and indicated that coal dust contributed to the severity of the explosion. The report should have warned coal owners of the hazard of coal dust explosions, but the risk was ignored for over 60 years until the Senghenydd Colliery Disaster of 1913.
   As a respected scientist in a nation with strong maritime interests, Faraday spent extensive amounts of time on projects such as the construction and operation of light houses and protecting the bottoms of ships from corrosion.
   Faraday also was active in what would now be called environmental science, or engineering. He investigated industrial pollution at Swansea and was consulted on air pollution at the Royal Mint. In July of 1855, Faraday wrote a letter to The Times on the subject of the foul condition of the River Thames, which resulted in an oft-reprinted cartoon in Punch. (See also The Great Stink.)
   Faraday assisted with planning and judging of exhibits for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. He also advised the National Gallery on the cleaning and protection of its art collection, and served on the National Gallery Site Commission in 1857.
   Education was another area of service for Faraday. He lectured on the topic in 1854 at the Royal Institution, and in 1862 he appeared before a Public Schools Commission to give his views on education in Great Britain. Faraday also weighed in, negatively, on the public's fascination with table-turning, mesmerism, and seances, chastising both the public and the nation's educational system.
   Faraday gave a successful series of lectures on the chemistry and physics of flames at the Royal Institution, entitled The Chemical History of a Candle. This was one of the earlier Christmas lectures for young people, which are still given each year. Between 1827 and 1860, Faraday gave the Christmas lecture a record nineteen times.

Later life

In June of 1832, the University of Oxford granted Faraday a Doctor of Civil Law degree (honorary). During his lifetime, Faraday rejected a knighthood and twice refused to become President of the Royal Society.
In 1848, as a result of representations by the Prince Consort, Michael Faraday was awarded a grace and favour house in Hampton Court, Surrey free of all expenses or upkeep. This was the Master Mason's House, later called Faraday House, and now No.37 Hampton Court Road. In 1858 Faraday retired to live there.
Faraday died at his house at Hampton Court on August 25, 1867. He turned down burial in Westminster Abbey, but he's a memorial plaque there, near Isaac Newton's tomb. Faraday was interred in the Sandemanian plot in Highgate Cemetery.

Miscellaneous

Faraday refused to participate in the production of chemical weapons for the Crimean War citing ethical reasons.
   A statue of Faraday stands in Savoy Place, London, outside the Institution of Electrical Engineers. A recently built hall of accommodation at Brunel University is named after Faraday. A hall at Loughborough University was named after Faraday in 1960. Near the entrance to its dining hall is a bronze casting, which depicts the symbol of an electrical transformer, and inside there hangs a portrait, both in Faraday's honour. A five-story building at the University of Edinburgh's science campus is named for Faraday.
   Faraday's picture was printed on British £20 banknotes from 1991 until 2001.
   The former UK Faraday Atmospheric Research Station in Antarctica was named after him. Faraday was one of the then eight foreign members of the French Academy of Sciences.

Writings by Faraday

Faraday's books, with the exception of Chemical Manipulation, were collections of scientific papers or transcriptions of lectures. Since his death, Faraday's diary has been published, as have several large volumes of his letters and Faraday's journal from his travels with Davy in 1813 - 1815.

Chemical Manipulation, Being Instructions to Students in Chemistry, John Murray, 1st ed. 1827, 2nd ed. 1830, 3rd ed. 1842
Experimental Researches in Electricity, vols. i. and ii., Richard and John Edward Taylor, vols. i. and ii.. 1844 and 1847; vol. iii., 1844; vol. iii. Richard Taylor and William Francis, 1855
Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics, Taylor and Francis, 1859
A Course of Six Lectures on the Chemical History of a Candle, edited by W. Crookes, Griffin, Bohn & Co., 1861 PDF/DjVu from Internet Archive
On the Various Forces in Nature, edited by W. Crookes, Chatto & Windus, 1873
Faraday's Diary edited by T. Martin was published in eight volumes, 1932 - 1936
Curiosity Perfectly Satisfyed: Faraday's Travels in Europe 1813-1815, edited by B. Bowers and L. Symons, Institution of Electrical Engineers, 1991
The Correspondence of Michael Faraday, edited by F. A. J. L. James, INSPEC, Inc., volume 1, 1991; volume 2, 1993; volume 3, 1996; volume 4, 1999
Course of six lectures on the various forces of matter, and their relations to each other London ; Glasgow : R. Griffin, 1860.
The liquefaction of gases Edinburgh: W. F. Clay, 1896.
The letters of Faraday and Schoenbein 1836-1862. With notes, comments and references to contemporary letters London: Williams & Norgate 1899.

Quotations

"Nothing is too wonderful to be true if it be consistent with the laws of nature, and in such things as these, experiment is the best test of such consistency."

"Work. Finish. Publish." — his advice to the young William Crookes

"The important thing is to know how to take all things quietly."

Regarding the hereafter, "Speculations? I've none. I'm resting on certainties."

"No wonder that my remembrance fails me, for I'll complete my 70 years next Sunday (the 22); -- and during these 70 years I've had a happy life; which still remains happy because of hope and content.

Above the doorways of the Pfahler Hall of Science at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, there's a stone inscription of a quote attributed to Michael Faraday which reads "but still try, for who knows what is possible..."

"One day sir, you may tax it." Faraday's reply to William Gladstone, then British Minister of Finance, when asked of the practical value of electricity.

"If you'd cause your view ... to be acknowledged by scientific men; you'd do a great service to science. If you'd even get them to say yes or no to your conclusions it would help to clear the future progress. I believe some hesitate because they don't like their thoughts disturbed."Further Information

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