High-voltage physics - with David Ricketts

Through incredible demonstrations, David Ricketts deploys high-voltage science to explain how spark generators, ion-powered motors and aircraft work.
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This talk was recorded at the Ri on 24 June 2023.
See the wonders of elusive plasma toroids and the magical Gassiot Fountain, often used as the grand finale of Victorian high-voltage science demonstrations. Of course no high-voltage talk would be complete without (several) Tesla coils! You'll see metre-long sparks illuminating the Theatre, as they arc and dance to the musical beat of David's Tesla coil orchestra.
In the tradition of the Ri, this talk is 100% demonstration and amazement - no slides here.
Prof David Ricketts is an Innovation Fellow in the Technology and Entrepreneurship Centre at Harvard University. He works with organisations around the globe, such as Mastercard, Ubisoft, Disney, General Motors, Dell and Ferarri to accelerate innovation.
David is also an accomplished academic, having his work appear twice in Nature as well as other distinguished publications and books. He is recipient of the National Science Foundation (US) CAREER award and the DARPA Young Faculty Award for his work on nano-electromagnetic devices. His innovations include a re-programmable, self-assembling matter, an American football tracking for sports visualisation with Disney/ESPN, and an advanced wireless power systems for next-generation cars with General Motors Research.
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[@deformityy264]

"it's a precious antique" *BLOWS IT UP* man I love science

[@andycordy5190]

What a show! The plasma toroid was the most extraordinary thing. I'm flabbergasted.

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

Thank you for writing out the name. I was really struggling to find it by description. I seen your comment and did a search using the name you provided and now I am able to learn a lot more about that affect. It is super cool.

[@Splarkszter]

​@@TheRadioAteMyTVHe said the name, you could have enabled captions too.

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

@@Splarkszter I couldn't understand what he said well enough to spell it it turns out. There were no captions available where I watched it, so andy's post was a real life and time saver. I am grateful.

[@michaelszczys8316]

The tea candle probably doesn't work well because they have metal plate holding the wick. Try a birthday candle.

[@jeromethiel4323]

And yet it makes perfect sense. Plasma is conductive. If you can get it in a ring, it becomes a secondary of a transformer, and thus self heating due to induced current. I've never seen it, but as soon as i did, i was "kewl, the ionized plasma is a coil."

[@melbournewolf]

Just caught this, my dad apprenticed under his father was also an electrician. He's a Glaswegian Scot, who educated himself up as an Electrical Engineer, who went on to become a lecturer in Physics and Mathematics and is my inspiration as well as my hero. Thankyou so much for giving me some warm and fuzzy niceness in reverie

[@davidwhatever9041]

A wonderful lecture, I don't think ive seen a live lecture with anywhere near as many complex demonstrations in one go; pulling them all off is extremely impressive.

[@davidricketts7975]

Thanks for comment. Greatly appreciated the support!

[@tncorgi92]

Like an Andrew Szydlo lecture but with electricity. And not as frenetic.😊

[@ecospider5]

The fact he got each one to work as well as he did is amazing.

[@jsalsman]

@@davidricketts7975 those vacuum seals though, you maybe need some softer gaskets under that jar. Excellent demonstrations!

[@dhebert111]

​@davidricketts7975 hey Dave! The song you chose for the "duet" was perfect. I'd just like to thank you for sharing your gift with the world, and more precisely, a very undereducated person like me. (Although, a bit less after this demonstration) Thanks. ~Dom.

[@SnowyBrighton]

I normally listen to these to learn and fall asleep to and keep coming back until it’s done over a couple of nights. However, this was fantastic and I couldn’t stop watching. Absolutely amazing and by far one of my most favourite lectures in a long time, if not of all time. ❤️

[@PBeringer]

Haha. Just had that very same experience.

[@wati52]

Likewise

[@NanaNi-du5fg]

i was watching another prof before this explaining Einstein equation and fell asleep. Woke up again when this is testing electricity. Tbh, I still have no idea what went on behind. The plasma and music are cool so what can we expect from these? im wondering if modern kids are still interested in science when the focus these days are on $, which is easier and cooler streaming short clips on tik tok, vs boomers who got involved bcoz they were motivated to improve lives and getting out of wars.

[@ecospider5]

It is amazing that he got this many experiments working as well as they did.

[@user-eu6js2ug8k]

Thank you very much professor David Ricketts

[@whirledpeas3477]

Ricketts, fixed it for ya 😊

[@user-eu6js2ug8k]

@@whirledpeas3477 I am so dyslexic. thank you

[@whirledpeas3477]

@@user-eu6js2ug8k I see what you did there 😉

[@MrGeoffHilton]

It's Christmas every day with RI lectures, very nostalgic even though they are current.

[@onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475]

I mainly do theoretical physics, but this demonstration - filled presentation was exceptional. Good reminder that physics actually "works"! 👍

[@smegheadGOAT]

Works, until you get to Quantum, then it gets weird.

[@onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475]

@@smegheadGOAT Honestly, it gets weird at any large scales or density or temperatures or extreme curvature. But that's what makes it an interesting exploration that not ever ever gets boring.

[@ctdieselnut]

That's a cool field to be in. It's unusual for me to run into a physicist in the wild, i always think it's a title reserved for neil degrasse Tyson or bill nye type people lol

[@jonaswox]

@@ctdieselnut neither of those two are proper scientists :) I like both, but they are science communicators.

[@brushhead]

Wow that's the most amazing lecture I've ever seen. I'm an electrical engineer working in power electronics. I wonder how many young people were inspired into a new career path from that? If so welcome and enjoy it.

[@mikebell2112]

1:40 1:40 1:40 1:40 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

[@soburnedout]

It is only amazing if you ALREADY understand electrostatic theory- I couldn’t stick around for the whole video because it Sucks and he obviously didn’t rehearse to be sure the visual demonstrations would be successful. Huge fail imo.

[@nonsuch]

Really? The most amazing you've ever seen?

[@ebaystars]

@@soburnedout dont be so rude the ambient air humidity was high in London at that time, so think about it. He did better than you could do I am sure...

[@martinlaird9712]

What is your job

[@RWBHere]

Thank-you. It's great to see some of the original equipment being used in demonstrations. Much appreciated! 🙂👍

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Great presentation. Thanks for allowing us to follow your demonstration! Love seeing things taken out of their museum cases and made to work again. I really feel this.

[@TheMrDrMs]

I used to go to a good number of demonstrations similar to this, and of other sciences when I was young (90's, NYC, USA) and I always loved them. Found this channel a couple years ago, and just love watching these. I can't wait until I can bring my kid to some similar events, just a couple more years. Thanks for the fun demo!

[@75blackviking]

This is the kind of content KZbin was made for. How cool!

[@mack3d.net_]

Awesome demo and amazing place with such significant history to perform the demos. I can't believe that room isn't packed. If i lived there, I'd see them all.

The Royal Institution keeps on rocking! Two centuries and still strong. Thank you.

[@sohamsuke]

Amazing, beautiful, splendid. Thank you all involved in making this happen.

[@TechOne7671]

Always a treat. The RI never disappoints.

[@Edwin-Campbell]

Fantastic in 2023, some of that must have been Mind Blowing in the late 1800's. Of the best RI presentations!

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

What a stunning - dare I say, electric! - lecture this has been! I've enjoyed it all, and not gotten a thing done I'd planned to do while it was playing, LOL! Thank you, RI, for all you do!

[@aufoslab]

i like him, my teacher had no clue about this stuff..

[@geoffgeoff143]

As an electrician, I went to a house where lightning hit the TV antenna. It blew a hole in the tile roof. The TV coax had NO copper in it. Power points were blown off walls. 240 volt cables had NO copper in them. Just plastic spagetti.

[@robertedwards3147]

I am nearly 70years and this has shown me some of things that I have read about and studied as I worked in very high voltage and current and plasma was all ways problem and the smell of ozone always brings back the lab memories of years ago

[@phattieg]

When they started playing music with the Tesla coil, I immediately thought in my head what the scene would look like if Nikola Tesla was sitting there for the demonstration. I imagine he would be sitting there with an embarrassed/modest smile on his face, probably shaking his head just a little bit at the demonstration. This talk speaks about quite a few very interesting, and very informational things about electrical influence while also talking about the magnetic part of the equations. I love, and sometimes miss, my good old school days. The days where a teacher of a subject, biology for example, would do a presentation for us in the classroom, complete with various props, models, samples, etc. All we would have to do is pay attention and afterwards we'd answer 10 or 20 questions to prove we were paying attention. It was an easy, and often entertaining day for us. Damn I miss those days! I hate being old!!!!

[@davidricketts7975]

Tesla gave his lecture at the RI right there 130 years ago.

[@donniebaker5984]

if nasa had shown you the same demonstration you would say its all lies of magic and voodoo ..funny thing i just now heard the speaker say this demo is not well known proving he is a great big liar fooling you into believing all this info is completely new and never before demonstrated as public info as he is suggesting ...when in fact is one of the main attractions of the museum of science and industry of Chicago Illinois for 85 years witness by over 190,000,000 people who have seen the demo with there own eyes ..isnt it nice how history is being constantly changed to protect the guilty who are all liars to the public until the unknowing are dead way before their time , like all that is happening now

[@LMde20]

I've seen grapes used to induce plasma in a microwave. 😊Put a grape on a plate and place a glass over the top. Switch on microwave. The glass keeps the plasma contained. It was a while ago, so please forgive me if I've forgotten something.

[@AdamWest-qp3yp]

Ok? Bro, I induce plasma with an arc hotter than the surface of the sun every time I tig weld.

[@LMde20]

@@AdamWest-qp3yp In a microwave? Wow!

[@AdamWest-qp3yp]

@@LMde20 sure a microwave has metal I can weld. and yes I can take a beaker right now and make grape plasma in a microwave, it’s called hit start

[@LMde20]

@@AdamWest-qp3yp Look, I was making comment on the fact that their way of inducing plasma in the microwave appeared a little fiddly for them. And maybe they hadn't seen, or thought of, the simple grape. I'm happy for you that you can weld and seem to know more about plasma than most. But, your comments are coming across as condescending and off the subject I was discussing. I'm not here to argue with you, that's all.

[@ryanrobison8973]

A couple of my grade school teachers would do demonstrations similar to some of these. I also had an incredibly good lecture in a chemistry class about why the scientific method was so important that I still remember today, over a decade later. That combined with a bunch of visits to science museums and presentations ended up making me get into a science related field. I'm really glad there are people like him keeping the art of demonstration alive!! There's absolutely no better way to learn anything, imo, than actually being able to see the process and effect in person.

[@SweetTreat-wl2yl]

Wonderful! I must confess though, when the demo started for the Tesla coil in the Faraday cage, I couldn't stop thinking, "Make it say 'Exterminate! Exterminate!' " Would've been the most remembered lecturer at RI since Dr. Who.

[@peteleoni9665]

Is this the "how not to do a demo" demo? If so it was a complete success. (-:

[@JackHandy7385]

Their audio engineer setting up the mic so that you can hear EVERY breath he takes is insane.

[@rbee6507]

Research/theoretical/etc. Scientists truly deserve everything and all the support. The fact that they don't get it, and are often spitefully denied, yet still devote their lives and take the time to inform us all just proves all the more that they truly are the best of us.

[@texasslingleadsomtingwong8751]

Such an incredibly difficult and complex dset of demonstrations . Very very well done.

[@peterrenn6341]

Superb. - why the place isn't packed is baffling. The historical continuity (so many legendary scientists have lectured in this room) and the power of science to amaze and inspire makes the RI lecture series something everyone should be very proud of.

[@Splarkszter]

I was blown by the plasma toroid generator and the "Thunderstruck" song duet was a piece of cake. Amazing! Thank you a lot for your work!

[@spoddie]

I'm sure Prof Ricketts is a very nice person, but if I met him there's no way I'm shaking hands with him ;)

[@davidricketts7975]

He is, but not as shocking in person.😊

[@kayakMike1000]

He's never going let you down, never going to run around and hurt you. You've been Ricketts Rolled.

[@lewis7515]

Wow, this lecture was a high stress deal for that man...

[@PetraKann]

Aircraft fly through storms and make contact with lightning strikes. The fuselage or metal skin of an aircraft is acting as a Faraday cage. Passengers and crew are safe during lightning strikes because of this

[@ernestoterrazas3480]

Marvelous scientific demonstration thank you so much for shearing your big knowledge.

[@space-time-somdeep]

I absolutely love these lectures.. and just because of Internet we can see these videos from home. Once Dr Jagadish Chandra Bose showed experiments there.. and Michelle Faraday and Nicola Tesla. I wish if I could watch them all.. I wish in near future, we will have the proper Generative AI technology so that Royal Institution can generate animation videos out of the trincripts of those old lectures.. it would be so damn cool.. Lots of love from India. ❤

[@fillipo1972]

The ac/dc duet was so perfect. It gave me goosebumps.

[@amirs.currim6442]

A superb show. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you.

[@synapticmemoryseepage4447]

Totally awesome demos and explanations.

[@whirledpeas3477]

Finally, physics for toddlers. Thank you 😊

[@Z-Ack]

Well he made a good effort at the demos..

[@tvrv9774]

Loved this presentation. Thank you all for this.

[@grego15]

This looked cool but I'm having major difficulty following his explanations! Sometimes he mixes things up or the experiment isn't working for him so there isn't a clear cause and effect. He also explains the paths of the charges without enough context. Oh well, it looked neat but unfortunately I think he just confused me more than I already was.

[@erikdenhouter]

Exactly my thought, although I am only at half time. But I don't expect it to get better. The waving with the two polarity checkers (red and blue LED) makes me spin trying to get it. I started to read the comments, and I thought they were written for another video. It seems to me, hearing the reaction at the exploding house ( 30:40 ), that there's a high satisfaction at the visual effects, and that people vote for the excitement more than the physics.

[@xy4489]

Yeah, with all due respect, this is perfect fuel for the science skeptics.

[@xyz.5512]

experiments can be 100% accurate all the time specially with electricity. he tried his best and maybe this wasnt for beginners he just demonstrated how theory works. if u dont have prior knowledge to what he is doing, it will be confusing.

[@tuopeeks]

Receiving multiple mild shocks while demonstrate static charge on a damp day is dedication.

[@BBQDad463]

Thank you for this most unique and amazing video!

[@jwillisbarrie]

Thanks for adding actual captions for the Deaf

[@HorseShoe-ok5sn]

W O W ... thank you very much for this lecture Mr. Ricketts..

[@luanlici84]

Incredible. Amazing show.

[@SaltGrains_Fready]

An excellent progression through voltage and time periods. Keep in mind that the LAST thing Dr. Tesla would have ever thought about using the Tesla Coil for is creating music.! He did use plasma lighting as shown in the spherical demonstrations in the 1891 HPHF lectures; and predict that it would in the future be optimized and miniaturized chemically to work at very low voltages, which is what is now developed & implemented as LED lighting which indeed obsoleted the plasma vacuum of the fluorescent tube which he brought forth back then..

[@juliavixen176]

LEDs don't emit light because of plasma. They are "Solid state" devices. (i.e. semiconductors not vacuum tubes) Tesla didn't invent the use of phosphorus coated rarefied gas tubes for lighting, but he invented powering the tubes "wirelessly" using a nearby Tesla coil.

[@littleshopofelectrons4014]

Very impressive lecture and demonstration. I have one correction though. The Tesla coil demo was not 1,000,000 volts. It was perhaps 200,000 to 300,000 volts. Tesla coils work by discharging many times per second. Each discharge creates a plasma trail. The next discharge follows the previous plasma trail. The path thus continues to grow until the power supplied is exceeded. This is what allows a Tesla coil discharge to be many times the length predicted from a simple air breakdown calculation.

[@dinkc64]

lovely presentation, absolutely lovely. thank you!

[@chanpol321]

In Faraday's first experimental demonstration (August 29, 1831), he wrapped two wires around opposite sides of an iron ring or "torus" (an arrangement similar to a modern toroidal transformer).[citation needed] Based on his understanding of electromagnets, he expected that, when current started to flow in one wire, a sort of wave would travel through the ring and cause some electrical effect on the opposite side. He plugged one wire into a galvanometer, and watched it as he connected the other wire to a battery. He saw a transient current, which he called a "wave of electricity", when he connected the wire to the battery and another when he disconnected it.[7] This induction was due to the change in magnetic flux that occurred when the battery was connected and disconnected.[2] Within two months, Faraday found several other manifestations of electromagnetic induction. For example, he saw transient currents when he quickly slid a bar magnet in and out of a coil of wires, and he generated a steady (DC) current by rotating a copper disk near the bar magnet with a sliding electrical lead ("Faraday's disk").[8] Faraday explained electromagnetic induction using a concept he called lines of force. However, scientists at the time widely rejected his theoretical ideas, mainly because they were not formulated mathematically.[9] An exception was James Clerk Maxwell, who used Faraday's ideas as the basis of his quantitative electromagnetic theory.[9][10][11] In Maxwell's model, the time varying aspect of electromagnetic induction is expressed as a differential equation, which Oliver Heaviside referred to as Faraday's law even though it is slightly different from Faraday's original formulation and does not describe motional emf. Heaviside's version (see Maxwell-Faraday equation below) is the form recognized today in the group of equations known as Maxwell's equations. In 1834 Heinrich Lenz formulated the law named after him to describe the "flux through the circuit". Lenz's law gives the direction of the induced emf and current resulting from electromagnetic induction.

[@friendlyone2706]

Fun fact: When Faraday demonstrated electricity to parliament, he was asked, "What good is it?" Faraday answered, "I don't know, but within a generation, you will be taxing it."

[@texasslingleadsomtingwong8751]

​@@friendlyone2706boy ain't that the truth.

[@kellyvcraig]

Thanks

[@JusticeAlways]

@@friendlyone2706 🤣👍YEEOWZA

[@d2sfavs]

found this last night great video thanks for sharing

[@l.gagnon3846]

That was fun! Thank you!

[@markpeter9919]

at 00:59:55 the "line of plasma" shown in slow motion forms a kind of "dots" (wow :-)) ). How this behaviour is created ?

[@NOMAD-qp3dd]

Maybe the FPS of the cameras? With the naked eye may not see that, kindof like how helicopter blades make a trick on the eye, or when you used to video record an old cathode ray television with and old camera it would look strange.

[@eclipsedbadger]

58:35 DAVID IS PONDERING THE ORB 👉🔮👈

[@cometboy1]

It was a great show. The plasma toroid is a fairly new high voltage demo and getting one up and running takes some work. One minor quibble. The one milion volts on the Tesla coil is most certainly inaccurate. Tesla coils act in a pulse mode as he mentions. During the on cycle there are lots of positive and negative voltage swings. The first swing ionizes a short channel of air. The next swing uses that already ionized channel to go a bit longer. Over the course of the pulse there are a lot of these swings, each extending the spark channel length. So the final spark is much longer than a single spark. I'd guess based on the size of the coil that the actual voltage is nearer to a 100kV. Still an impressive volatge. Cheers.

[@drewstudlino5885]

when I was in college what I'd give to have a professor lecture like this..I get everything you can't read this and grasp it.

[@edenglish95]

Muito obrigado pela ótima aula! E um Feliz Ano Novo 🎉🎉🎉

[@DouwedeJong]

This was an amazing lecture.

[@areenarena]

Thank you. So many things I learned

[@fiskurtjorn7530]

55:55 That's what filming a CRT TV image looked like. 58:43 The toroid wiggles like water in a just put-down bucket. Will it settle down after time like the water? 1:06:35 I wonder, did Mr Tesla know this, and did he somehow play music?

[@juliavixen176]

I don't believe that pulse width modulation was invented until after Tesla died.

[@phillupson8561]

Yet another brilliant show from the RI, and what a great lecturer. And playing Thunderstruck by ACDC on Tesla coils was just icing on the cake.

[@NOMAD-qp3dd]

Good choice too ! 🤣

[@dennisp4395]

I saw this Faraday demo of the Skin principle demonstrated about 25 yrs ago at the New England Museum of Science. Way cool!

[@kkonvicka25]

Have them crank up the thermostat to warm up the room. This’ll lower the RELATIVE humidity, and sparks should behave as expected.

[@The_Makers_Prerogative]

I admire his ability to talk to crowds wile the example presentations keep going awry.

[@bremensname6057]

way to go Mike

[@riverbender9898]

Masterful demonstration. Thank you.

[@simonsays...5061]

Do you just say what you think is polite while knowing full well that it's not true? Truth and accuracy are far more polite gestures than obviously lying to someone because you think it'll make them feel better. There's no question as to how badly this went for the presenter. For those who are ignorant to all of these concepts, your comment may make others feel like they are intellectually lacking due to themselves being very confused by the demonstration. By reading your response that it was "Masterfully" demonstrated as if you were able to easily understand it all yourself from these presentations alone, they may assume its themselves that are intellectually incapable of understanding these concepts, when in fact its unfortunately terribly presented(with all do respect to the presenter) and if it had been done effectively they could have certainly understood what they have now judged themselves for being too "dumb" to understand. Honesty is a form of respect. Lying or exaggerating helps no one.. I am meaning absolutely no disrespect to you in this comment, I'm simply being honest with you of my perspective and the perspective that others may have. Be well my friend.

[@riverbender9898]

@@simonsays...5061 I understand your comments. I have been a Science-follower for over seventy years. I worked in both military and civilian electronics for over fifty years. My comments were accurate and sincere. Our society has continued to disintegrate, in part because there is resentment for people who put in the difficult work of learning complex methodology and concepts.

[@Kelthor85]

@@simonsays...5061 Thank you for the comment. Felt like heaps of people were gas lighting.

[@joshm3342]

Reminds me of visits to Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium in the 1960s, where I first saw a large Tesla Coil in action. Also at Buhl (mid 1970s), experienced my first Laser light shows. After that, it was Physics & Electronics for me. Fun stuff!

[@risaalshaan]

“Two men aggressively rub their pipes”

[@pedrorivera4769]

i love this video

[@NOMAD-qp3dd]

I love the Ri. 👏👏👏

[@tizio13]

What an intro, so fun!

[@tizwah]

Only 6 likes? That's embarrassing. This was one of the most well done lectures EVER. Thank you

[@ChatGPT1111]

Now it has 4,400 likes. Be patient.

[@BackMacSci]

Your plasma toroid looked great, David!

[@christopherlent7895]

I really enjoyed this.

[@JusticeAlways]

Excellent demonstrations....👍

[@surendrakverma555]

Very good presentation. Thanks 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@marshbarn]

bloody brilliant

[@h7opolo]

the brilliant flow of demonstrations is chronologically thorough, however, this presentation still needs more quality assurance.

[@Kelthor85]

Yep, needs a layer of polish.

[@marcmarc172]

Looks like there's gonna be lots of demonstrations with this one. That's always a hit for the kids - which is important for getting them excited about science and learning. Thanks David, thanks RI.

[@antoniorodolpho6835]

Sensacional!!!!

[@PeteVanDemark]

This was great!!

[@Bob-fz2jw]

дуже цікаво! дякую Вам.

[@hochathanfire0001]

Plasma makes the best light shows 🥳🥳🥳💃.

[@maskddingo1779]

Very educational and engaging! What a great teacher. Plus "Thunderstruck" on tesla coils 😂

[@kenmh7357]

This is cool! Thanks sir!

[@paulbergin7355]

Fun to watch. I've always been interested in arcs and sparks. That was informative too. It would've been an honour to lecture in the same place as Tesla.

[@paradiselost9946]

faraday, lord kelvin, rankin kennedy, amongst others just dont count, huh?

[@dimension2788]

love the duet of the tesla coils awesome. Wish I could study physics with David Ricketts.

[@paradiselost9946]

to quote tesla himself.... "The sparks may be long and brilliant, the display interesting to witness, and the audience may be delighted, but one must doubt the value of such demonstrations. There is so little novelty in them..." source; Some Experiments in Tesla's Laboratory with Currents of High Potential and High Frequency

[@maurod6180]

EXCELLENT VIDEO!!!!

[@leso204]

Very clever tesla coil duet 'Thunder struck' by AC/DC of course 😎

[@chaorrottai]

I would like to present to you another electrical device: - The device consists of two capacitors: C1 and C2. - Each capacitor has two plates. In C1, these are named C1-1 and C1-2, while in C2, they are C2-1 and C2-2. - C1-2 and C2-2 act as electrets and are electrically isolated from the rest of the circuit. - C1-2 presents a positive voltage field to C1-1, and C2-2 presents a negative voltage field to C2-1. - To rearrange the plates, C1-2 and C2-2 are mounted on a rotor, allowing them to be exchanged from side to side - C1-1 and C2-1 are electrically connected through a load of arbitrary resistance and are mounted as stators in the system - When the rotor is at 0 degrees rotation, the capacitor plates are as close to each other as possible, when the rotor is at 90 degrees rotation the capacitor plates on the rotor are equidistant to the capacitor plates on the stator - the rotor plates are charged and then electrically isolated to act as electrets during opperation - the stator plates are charges and discharges passively based on which rotor plate they are nearest to If I start with 100 joules of energy and I rotate the rotor to 90 degrees using that energy and I lose 5 joules to friction, then I can store 95 joules of energy as potential energy and electrical potential energy between the rotor and the capacitor plates. Since the energy is being stored as electrical potential energy, a current will flow through the load until the charges on plates C1-1 and C2-1 are equal, the electrical potential energy stored will be equal to the potential energy we stored in the rotor 95 joules. Once the charges on C1-1 and C2-1 are equal, the system is at it's point of highest energy and the rotor is resting in at unstable balance point, tipping the rotor to 91 degrees causes the charges to rebalance to reflect the change in the exposed voltage field. Now C2-1 starts to accumulate the opposite charge as C1-2 and C1-1 starts accumulate the opposite charge as C2-2. This causes electrostatic attraction to increase between the plates and to torque the plate forward towards 180 degrees rotation. This effect releases the potential energy that we initially stored on the rotor. When we stored the energy, we said we lost 5 joules to friction, so we're going to lose 5 joules to friction again when we release the potential energy, meaning we will get 90 joules of potential energy back as kinetic energy once we complete 180 degrees in rotation. At the same time, while we are releasing the potential energy, the magnitude of charge on C1-1 and C2-2 is increasing to reflect the new geometry of teh system. 95 joules of electrical energy will have to flow from C1-1 to C2-1 again in order to release the stored potential energy. So all in all, in this case with the energy values presented: - You will store and release potential energy on the rotor to complete a 180 degree rotation - You will store and release 100 joules of energy with a 10% loss on retrieval - You will cause 190 joules of energy to flow from C1-1 to C2-1 in order to store and release this potential energy

[@samuelsungstabtu7527]

Loved the toroidal plasma

[@ophthojooeileyecirclehisha4917]

thank you

[@InterdimensionalWiz]

whimshurst is simply a series of electroporuses(electropori), from the law 'when you reduce the capacitance of a charged capacitor, the voltage will increase proportionally.' exciting stuff!

[@359Aides]

Isn't it a cool time when it's possible to have seen one of the highlights of a Royal Institution lecture (the plasma toroid) in some other science youtuber videos before it was showcased there?

[@Dheeraj5373]

30:55 the way the house explodes is excellent demonstration to show how dangerous lightning 🌩️ is

[@carmendeliman4853]

❤❤❤❤❤ thank you so much extraordinary ❤❤❤❤❤🎉

[@AraCarrano]

Info graphic about the weather, relative humidity and pollen count on the day of this lecture would be helpful.

[@WhileTrueCode]

yea and all the people in the room exhaling moisture couldn't be helping either