How Electricity Actually Works

This video is sponsored by Brilliant. The first 200 people to sign up via brilliant.org/veritasium get 20% off a yearly subscription.
Special thanks to:
Bruce Sherwood, Ruth Chabay, Aaron Titus, and Steve Spicklemore
matterandinteractions.org
VPython simulation: tinyurl.com/SurfaceCharge
Thanks to Ansys for help with the simulations: www.ansys.com/products/electr...
Huge thanks to Richard Abbott from Caltech for all his modeling
Electrical Engineering KZbinrs:
Electroboom: / electroboom
Alpha Phoenix: / alphaphoenixchannel
eevblog: / eevblogdave
Ben Watson: / @pulsedpower
Big Clive: / bigclive
Z Y: / zongyiyang
NYU Quantum Technology Lab
/ @nyuquantumtechnologylab
Dr. Ben Miles
/ @drbenmiles
Further analysis of the large circuit is available here: ve42.co/bigcircuit
Special thanks to Dr Geraint Lewis for bringing up this question in the first place and discussing it with us. Check out his and Dr Chris Ferrie’s new book here: ve42.co/Universe2021
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References:
A great video about the Poynting vector by the Science Asylum: • Circuit Energy doesn't...
Sefton, I. M. (2002). Understanding electricity and circuits: What the text books don’t tell you. In Science Teachers’ Workshop. -- ve42.co/Sefton
Feynman, R. P., Leighton, R. B., & Sands, M. (1965). The feynman lectures on physics; vol. Ii, chapter 27. American Journal of Physics, 33(9), 750-752. -- ve42.co/Feynman27
Hunt, B. J. (2005). The Maxwellians. Cornell University Press.
Müller, R. (2012). A semiquantitative treatment of surface charges in DC circuits. American Journal of Physics, 80(9), 782-788. -- ve42.co/Muller2012
Galili, I., & Goihbarg, E. (2005). Energy transfer in electrical circuits: A qualitative account. American journal of physics, 73(2), 141-144. -- ve42.co/Galili2004
Deno, D. W. (1976). Transmission line fields. IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, 95(5), 1600-1611. -- ve42.co/Deno76
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Special thanks to Patreon supporters: Inconcision, Kelly Snook, TTST, Ross McCawley, Balkrishna Heroor, Chris LaClair, Avi Yashchin, John H. Austin, Jr., OnlineBookClub.org, Dmitry Kuzmichev, Matthew Gonzalez, Eric Sexton, john kiehl, Anton Ragin, Diffbot, Micah Mangione, MJP, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Dumky, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Josh Hibschman, Mac Malkawi, Michael Schneider, jim buckmaster, Juan Benet, Ruslan Khroma, Robert Blum, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Vincent, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Clayton Greenwell, Michael Krugman, Cy 'kkm' K'Nelson, Sam Lutfi, Ron Neal
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Written by Derek Muller
Edited by Derek Muller
Filmed by Trenton Oliver and Petr Lebedev
Animation by Mike Radjabov and Ivy Tello
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images
Music from Epidemic Sound and Jonny Hyman
Thumbnail by Ignat Berbeci
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, and Emily Zhang

[@PzMcQunn]

As an electron working in the field, I'm glad we're finally getting the recognition we deserve.

[@wual.]

Under rated joke 😭

[@vladyslavkryvoruchko]

you are a slow worker

[@mcpr5971]

stop being so negative!

[@larrya740]

I got a charge out of that one!

[@riyuofenkelrin9530]

​@@wual.After my latest acid experience.... 😬 We ARE electrons

[@SirPembertonS.Crevalius]

Respect for admiting to some mistakes. It's refreshing to see someone both rationally defend their side and also admit to some mistakes and fix said mistakes.

[@maxluthor6800]

All this drama because he forgot the unit.. like all math teachers always say 3 WHAT? 🍎? 🫁? 🌞?

[@novembertango1298]

Agreed, but can we also acknowledge how sad it is that this is the case? That the current social climate people are so ready to go down on their sword even in the face of opposing information. It’s ok to get things wrong, it is not ok to pretend you’re correct just to save face with the embarrassment of speaking on topics you have no education.

[@realityvanguard2052]

Are you referring to people like Fauci who just lie and then lie and then lie and then lie?

[@superslammer]

@@realityvanguard2052 this has nothing to do with this dicussion. try to stay on topic or don't post.

[@Craigelz]

"The fascinating thing is not that electricity travels down the wires. It is, rather, that were they not insulated it would not" Nikola Tesla

[@780joey]

As an electrician working in the field, I can confidently say: This is above my pay grade.

[@hughleyton693]

I suspect you are right. . . . Derek was very WRONG on this. . . . Not only do I work in the electrician field, in house and factory wiring, from 120V AC up through 480V 3-phase and 1 MVA Generators, I also work in the DC field, some DC I worked with was over 5,000 Amps... I work from DC, through 50 / 60 Hz right up through the Radio frequencies, and up into Microwave fre2quencies, so I know Derek's video is WRONG.

[@hojnikb]

@@hughleyton693 That's almost like saying a butcher makes a good surgeon..

[@atafakheri8659]

​@hughleyton693 my man Anybody worth their damn knows this video is right

[@CherokezPittman]

Hi there! I completely understand where you're coming from. Electricity can be a complex topic. If you're looking for a reliable backup power solution for your outdoor adventures or home, I highly recommend checking out the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series. It offers a massive capacity, fast recharging, versatile sockets, and many other great features. It's definitely worth considering for your power needs. Hope this helps!

[@CherokezPittman]

Reply to the user's comment: "Totally understand! Electricity can be a complex subject. If you're looking for reliable power backup options for your outdoor adventures, you might want to check out the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series. It's a versatile and powerful portable power station that can keep your devices running for extended periods. It's definitely worth considering for your camping trips or when you need backup power at home."

[@MoSamArafat]

Your original video has essentially achieved its purpose, you have generated a huge response, and then brought everyone together and the net outcome was to educate people in a deeper way than the average KZbin experience. Always appreciate your work man!

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Fantastic revisit! The animations and the simulations were spot-on, and great at showing the difference between the transient “first-second” effect, and the steady-state “rest of time” behavior. The whole “expanding loop of current” thing is a great way to phrase it, because after that poynting loop expands to match the actual physical loop of wire, then stuff starts to behave normally and all of the power is transmitted around the loop very close to the wire. I still hold that for this simple circuit, turning on a lightbulb with wires much smaller around than they are long, the effect of surface charge vs internal charge is negligible, so you can ignore any skin-effect stuff and say that “mobile” electrons are indeed pushing on other “mobile” electrons using their fields, but I totally agree that that’s a simplification, just a simplification that makes the intuition a lot easier. I also need to do some math about how far the average “electron” is displaced in order to build the initial charge distribution around some typical circuit elements - axial flow is the only way I understand those charge distributions getting built, and this whole endeavor has made me think hard about what that means. Someday when I think I understand it better I’ll edit up my pt.2 response video - thanks for the shoutout! I’ve got a great experiment in the works to show the “expanding poynting loop” 😁

[@Alexander_D_Shaffer]

AlphaPhoenix I just discovered your channel a few weeks ago. Killer content!

[@juanvidal8404]

@@Alexander_D_Shaffer me too. He is an amazing scientist!

[@Amuxix]

Great to see you mentioned in this video you deserve a lot more recognition for your awesome videos, they need to be viewed by many more people, they're all great! Thanks for taking the time to create them!

[@sharkinahat]

Shoutout well deserved. You got great content on your channel, not just the one response video.

[@varunkoganti9067]

You got lot of free time to set up that experiment.

[@ElectroBOOM]

This was a greatly detailed video and I think we are pretty much on the same page! Thanks for the shoutout and going through the trouble of clarification. P.S. by the way, the resistor in your experiment didn't quite match the lien impedance, other you would get half your supply voltage right away. But I mean with such small capacitance and inductances, the probing itself could d have added some parasitic components to the lines. PPS: Like I said above "pretty much on the same page"! It is a complex subject, and I think some nuances could have been addressed better. Maybe Derek and I could sit together and react to nuances to clarify things!

[@youtubeguys6899]

Fantastic man

[@realallthings4700]

Boom

[@realallthings4700]

Er

[@jjeshop]

Maybe stop electrocuting yourself long enough to hear the man out.

[@mysteriousmessenger3258]

Kudos to veritasium

[@bobsaget9170]

Being humble to admit your mistakes and learn from other perspectives is what science is all about. No ego, just learning and discovering something new is amazing, our society needs more of this today

[@Nnm26]

I don’t know where you got the admitting mistakes from. He pretty much calling everyone wrong in this video

[@namothegamui2573]

@@Nnm2615:55 dude. You dont pay attention to vdo then just dont comment

[@namothegamui2573]

@@Nnm26he literally said his model is wrong and his solution is adding capacitors

[@Nnm26]

@@namothegamui2573 no YOU don’t understand. He’s only adding the capacitor to get his point across.

[@namothegamui2573]

@@Nnm26 “so our original circuit diagram is flawed” ah yes that doesnt sound like he admit mistake at all yea.

[@electricbadgercollc8146]

Thank you for taking the time to produce and share this video. I've been an EE for close to 20 years and I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that only now am I starting to fully appreciate the importance of E and B fields in the behaviour of circuits.

[@davidrandell2224]

“The Final Theory: Rethinking Our Scientific Legacy”, Mark McCutcheon for proper physics, including electricity.

[@hughleyton693]

If you are an EE, you should know that Derek's video is WRONG. . . . The Current, the power of DC is INSIDE the wire, not any external fields.

[@davidrandell2224]

Electricity is expanding electrons crossing over from the subatomic realm to atomic realm spiraling around the outside mostly- ‘skin effect ‘- mistakenly called E and B. Without reading you will remain ignorant. Sad, but true.

[@profvonshredder2563]

@@hughleyton693 In a real world system you will always have R L and C components in your power transmission equivalent circuit diagram…the L’s and C’ will provide temporary lossless storage of the energy that is not at that instance a current flowing through the load resistance.

[@profvonshredder2563]

A good transmission system will have low Resistance wires (as compared to the current they will carry. The reason for Power Transmission using 10,000+ volts is to keep the current in the wires much lower than if it were 120v. If the wires were perfect conductors, you would not need the extra high voltage

[@GruntyGame]

This was a good revisit. After watching the original I didn’t feel like it made enough sense. It wasn’t until Alpha Phoenix posted his experiment that I understood the point you were actually aiming for.

[@roanbrand7358]

Same. Glad 2nd video finally came

[@Schwuuuuup]

Yes, I strongly disliked the way the first video showed the topic although I understood, what he was trying to say - mainly because I had watched the earlier video from Scienceasylum (some 2 years before veritassium). The Video of Alpha Phoenix was great and he as much too few followers for the quality content he makes. I hope this video sends much love (and subs) to AlphaPhoenix

[@Are_you_eyeballing_me]

@@Schwuuuuup AlphaPhoenix is highly under appreciated indeed

[@godgige]

@@Schwuuuuup You just sent one more sub to him ;)

[@Schwuuuuup]

@@godgige Oh nice! have fun there!

[@se7engold]

This… this is what science is all about. Thought experiment, theory, peer review, experiment. Well done everyone.

[@leroydubois8794]

When do the politicians start scolding us about what to believe? (JKing)

[@JamesBond-be4cw]

No...we just need one opinion. CDC says it's safe - it's safe, no more discussion needed. Trust the science.

[@Best-um3eq]

can now someone explain workings of battery if charges dont move ???

[@user-lo3er3th8g]

@@JamesBond-be4cw inside the CDC you will have everything the comment stated, that's just how science works my friend

[@JamesBond-be4cw]

@@user-lo3er3th8g When does CDC/FDA ask for peer reviews from other scientists that are not funded by big pharma?

[@DearAleksander]

Much better than the original video. The level of technical explanation is far more detailed. Feedback from the community was taken into account and an experiment was conducted to prove that the original answer was correct albeit with caveats which are also explained. One more thing that I wanted to see in the experiment is what happens when the cable is cut at both ends and compare the result for the closed circuit. With both cable ends cut the experiment should clearly demonstrate that the energy to the bulb is transferred via an electric field and not by electrons pushing each other through a wire.

[@hughleyton693]

Possibly better than the original video, but still the same WRONG information... The original answer was NOT correct. . . . DC Current flows INSIDE the wires and not by any external fields.. . . . And the reason some power was seen early, is because the Switch ON Pulse is a square edge voltage rise and forms a WAVE down the wire, such waves travel at the speed of light in that medium, which is about 60% of the speed of light in space.

[@Luigi2262_]

@@hughleyton693 Please clarify

[@dougbas3980]

Wayyy better explanation! Thank you and bravo for helping this electrical engineer understand what you meant in the first video. Yah, I had to figure out the 1 was in meters and not unit-less. Back in my early days at Bell Labs, I was doing micro-strip lines on printed circuit boards because 500 MHz square waves on a PCB board must be handles as fields and not electrons. Thanks for what you do; the knowledge is appreciated!

[@veesoho93]

I love the "peer review" reactions and the dialog. This is what we need. Everywhere, in science, politics etc. This is what the most powerful neurologic network looks like. Cheers ! Let's keep arguing ! Peacefully and intelligently if we can !

[@jonmichaelgalindo]

This is how politics / governance / law should be treated by all of us!

[@Dzeroed]

HEAR HEAR!

[@jonmichaelgalindo]

​@@geospatial-KML Em radiation / radio waves are electric field perturbations. Photons _are_ electromagnetism, and with wavelengths this big over distances this small, they don't behave like particles, just fluctuating electric and magnetic fields. (That's why we call them radio waves, not radio photons, even though mathematically and physically they are the same.) These people are very intelligent and thoughtful. This isn't "complete foolishness" at all, especially not compared to the nonsense you hear from politicians and activists. Electricity is just inherently complex. Every analogy and description outside of pure mathematics runs into problems eventually.

[@Qotroz]

There hasn't really been any arguing going on around this topic.

[@TheRayDog]

@@jonmichaelgalindo I'd disagree. Politics and governance are about priorities and values, not maximizing or truth or efficiency. Else we'd burn all fossil or kill infirm people or do whatever maximally efficient yet evil act is possible. We're also dealing with people, who have no fixed truth like electricity does. Each person is infinitely complex, free thinking, with personal predilections that cannot be defined by immutable physical law. And this discussion is exactly the discussion you're discussing we need. Odd circularity.

[@lucazsy]

What a great time to be alive. Hundreds of years ago this discussion would be hold in books or university talks that were unavailable to the vast majority of society. Now, it is being done publically, everyone with access to internet can live this experience. It is amazing and it makes me feel like one 17th century student watching a heated physics debate.

[@SuperChuckRaney]

If you had been at Pizza the other week, you could have heard everyone having a discussion LOUDLY about how an airplane flies. It was chaos, even a table next to us got in on it. OF COURSE they were all wrong. Here, there is a tool that measures the presence of the electrons (that you can buy at Home Depot) and it measures (checks) the wire for charge with no load (light off). Every electrician carries one.

[@Sumanitu]

By hundreds of years, you mean 20 years ago. 30 years ago you could only find this stuff in books and university talks. 20 years ago you could find it on the internet in niche global scholarly community discussions through text. Scholars discussing things with scholars still, just faster and further; on things like message boards and news groups. Just a handful of years after that we went from text discussion to full video and audio conversation

[@MichaelMcGowan508]

My thoughts exactly! We are in the public discourse of an amazing intellectual exhange.

[@andragon2485]

One might argue, what a bad time to be alive. Yes interlectual discussions have a great canvas to be painted on but if you compare the count of interlectual discussions to the count of moronic discussions by people who not even have a little understanding of what they are talking about, the time we live in just feels so off balance ....

[@Fomites]

What a great comment! My thoughts too.

[@BruceLeeAlwaysWins]

Great explanation! I've been researching all kinds of E&M applications for longer than I care to admit, yet I still find myself taken aback all the time when a marvelously intuitive explanation like yours comes around to disabuse my common misinterpretations. So thank you for the new perspective and clarity. I'll be sure to pay it forward and better elaborate to those I've instructed to merely calculate.

[@fissionphoenix4995]

I love that someone else set up the same system with very long transmission lines to perform the same experiment. True peer review going on right there.

[@johnthompson2956]

Electricity drama continues.

[@Samir12357]

Yup...

[@BGGamesOfficial]

😂

[@mpcx]

Truly shocking

[@MrUssy101]

Dafuq Y’all care bout how electricity is cooked. All I care I charge my phone and can scroll tiktok !!!!

[@Natural_Power]

@@MrUssy101 But if you're using TikTok does it really matter what you think?👀

[@TheActionLab]

Very good video. Remember there is a difference between what’s true, and what matters. Derek does a great job showing the whole truth of how circuits really work. The other videos that critique it do a great job at showing what matters. For most situations the small increase in voltage at 1/c seconds is negligible compared to the overall voltage needed to light the light bulb.

[@adarshvardhanmeher2800]

OMG I love your videos

[@DanieleinaD]

Yes

[@kevwatts]

Love Ur videos

[@zapxdragon10]

indeed a very enchanting thought experiment and enlightening conclusions I wonder how this would carry on to the quantum scales as well maybe we will find a great connection there as well

[@INDONESIABUBAR2030BYSPIZYDORI]

Thank you

[@fraydevore]

When describing circuits, most educators focus on what is happening at the subatomic level (which I love) but not the reasons why particles behave the way they do. I'm often left feeling like I missed something important in Science class - but something so rudimentary that no one will ever think to revisit it. You did an excellent job of anticipating many of my own questions (9:35). You also have the best motion graphics and editing I've seen for demonstrating this kind of information. I cannot thank you enough for this video!

[@ArielNMz]

Took me 2 years since this came out and about 2 months since I started tinkering with actual circuits to really understand what's going on. I knew fields had more to do with the flow of energy than electricity during my time in college by reading all the technical stuff but it's one of those things that become easy to ignore once you have built an intuition around a different model. Cool stuff, I'm glad I was finally able to come back and really understand it.

[@TurinTuramber]

Anybody critical or skeptical of science should watch and learn how this conversation has progressed. Props to Derek and the other KZbin creators for a beautiful demonstration of the scientific method.

[@2QRh6g1I]

Toss a coin to your witcher...er electrician

[@ptrkmr]

“Science is wrong sometimes” was one of the most infuriating comments because the entire POINT of science is being wrong, and later learning WHY it is wrong. If science could only be correct it would be a fallacy that could not exist.

[@danphillips8530]

well, shouldn't we be skeptical tho

[@UniCorn-wi8pb]

@@ptrkmr the faster one figures out where something is wrong the faster they are closer to being right.

[@createbelief8678]

@@ptrkmr that's the problem with globe proponents, they have nothing but fallacious reasoning and sophistry to prove their globe claims

[@DarkLordDeimos]

What I love about this is that this is truly an application of the scientific method within the scientific community. One person (or group) makes an experiment and hypothesis, peers challenge/prove/disprove the original hypothesis, and experiment with their own experiments, explanations, and hypotheses, and then communicate back to the scientific community. This results in further testable hypotheses and finally consensus. Those that question science sometime feel that science is a collection of edicts set in stone foisted upon them by the elite, but science is beautiful because it demands challenge for it work! I wish I were a writer to explain my thoughts better, but this video and situation surrounding it were simply too inspiring not to comment on.

[@TheTransitmtl]

Your thoughts are explained very clearly. The point you make about the scientific method is very well written.

[@OldShortyInCanada]

THIS is what I enjoyed the most about this rebuttal. The clearly demonstrated effect of the "Scientific Method" for sure. I will admit that some of the electrical terminology escapes me but the responses to the first presentation from so many people of so many different education types and levels is awesome ! To know that a "simple" video posted online garners so much attention from such talented and dedicated people around the world is mind-blowing. There would be no way to tell people even 10 years ago that such a thing would be so commonplace and expected that nobody would notice or care that it happens all the time now. We should pause a few minutes and reflect on that. Truly amazing really. I wish I had access to this sort of thing those many years ago when I was growing up. All the knowledge that is available today ... the hard part now is to know what the question is. Hmmmm... 42 ?

[@electronresonator8882]

Derek is like Russia right now, he fought all those "internet scientist NATO" alone, where they keep telling him and also the entire internet world that Derek is wrong, but Derek persists that they don't understand what he's trying to do

[@Kalimerakis]

Exactly my toughts! What a great way to show the scientific method!

[@eddcosterton5531]

KZbin appears to be where science can actually happen, rather than the politico corporate crap touted in the old school

[@BealsScience]

This is absolutely brilliant. As a high school science teacher, I have not found a better explanation of how electricity really works - and my students can follow it and learn because it isn’t laden with equations. I applaud you, Derek! Thank you!

[@hughleyton693]

BUT it is WRONG. . . Derek has not understood electricity properly and misunderstood what he was seeing on his instruments.. . . I do understand electricity from DC right up into Microwave frequencies.

[@hughleyton693]

This is NOT brilliant. . .. It is WRONG information, DC Current flows INSIDE the wires, not by any external fields. Derek has this very WRONG.. . . So Bad information for gullible people.

[@petraariely8988]

​@@hughleyton693So show all your wisdom 😂

[@hughleyton693]

Yes there are fields both Voltage and Magnetic fields around wires. .. The voltage field radiates away from the wire, when there is voltage on the wire relative to the ground, and can not induce the current in the wire, and the magnetic field rotates around the wire when there is current flowing in the wire.. . . BUT Both these are very small and almost insignificant below about 100 Voltage and less than 10 Amps. . . . But neither of these are responsible for the POWER down wires. . . 99.9% something % of the Power in Wires at DC and low frequency AC is due to the VOLTAGE difference between the wire ends, causing Current to flow down INSIDE the wire.. . . I hope you now understand this, and understand how pulses will travel down the wire at about 60% of the speed of light, in the wire, and the EM fields are far too small to do anything across the 1 metre air space.

[@YoungAnaryan]

Don't teach children by this way of explanation. They would get confused. Teach them the conventional way first. this understanding is for the highly curious students only. This doesn't work in passing exams but can be useful for taming curiosity.

[@worldnotworld]

Fantastic. A separate video about how capacitors and inductive coils work in and of themselves would be incredibly good and would round this out perfectly!

[@hughleyton693]

Any discussion by Derek, on how Capacitors and Inductors work may well compound some of the WRONG information Derek gave in that Video, it is very WRONG information.. . He does not understand Electricity.

[@hughleyton693]

Fantastic how so many gullible people believed this WRONG information. Ah.!

[@worldnotworld]

@@hughleyton693 You're pretty frantastic too!

[@xenatolesavant7582]

​@@hughleyton693you're actually the most dedicated guy ever commenting below each comment it's false without any proof nor argument saying trust me bro you don't get it.

[@hughleyton693]

@@xenatolesavant7582 If you are not prepared to listen to someone who knows, then that is your problem. . . But you have the proof right in front of you in your car, look at all the wires in your car, they work, don't they and they can't be working by external fields can they. ?

[@BlueRadium]

Glad to see the age-old tradition of scientists/engineers ripping into a colleague's experiment and eventually ending on "huh you were right, that's pretty cool" is alive and well

[@barrypenobscott9882]

Too bad that this age-old tradition isn't also being consistently applied in medicine which claims to "follow the science".

[@ivkuben4022]

@@barrypenobscott9882 what are you even talking about

[@kaufmanat1]

@@ivkuben4022 have you been living under a rock for the last two years? You really have no idea what he's talking about?

[@bumblebootwiddletoes5185]

@@barrypenobscott9882 medicine follows the science, but the science is limited by capitalism, regulatory institutions, & universities all run by the same people. To fix this we need to a) fully & publicly fund medical & pharmaceutical research at independent labs, and b) permanently divorce government regulatory institutions from the private pharmaceutical industry (and all private industry for that matter). As for the vaccines they did the best they could within the framework we have (and I'm happy with mine because I spent a weekend with and shared a meal and spoon with someone who had contracted Delta and I didn't get it). We MUST change the framework.

[@ailblentyn]

@@bumblebootwiddletoes5185 So true.

[@miserepoignee9594]

V: "The surface charge description is omitted from most textbooks..." Me: "Weird, I remember hearing about that in my E&M class." V: "...but there's a great treatment of it in Matter and Interactions by Chabay and Sherwood." Me: "Hey, I recognize that book!"

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

Can you debunk this? 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 💖

[@stevedig886]

An excellent video on how electricity works. I had always had it explained in terms of the Lumped Element model, with electrons flowing through a wire, which left me confused about where all the "free electrons" went. I can see that Maxwells equations are more complex and the Lumped Element is simpler to work with. A bit like calculating gravity with Newtons laws or General Relativity. I think I can understand how AC current works when I think about it in terms of alternating fields.

[@atushikun5918]

Thanks Derek, because of your explanation things are much clearer now like how even in the case of open circuit capacitor get its initial voltage as same as battery or the concept of AC supply and its effects. Also you've made me realise that I should have paid attention to my Electromagnatic Field Theory class I just got its score and it's 32/50 lol but all i did was remember some formulas basics and practiced many numericals from sadiku lol

[@lmelior]

You've also hinted at the best trick to asking for help on the Internet: never just ask the question; ask the question AND THEN answer it incorrectly. Far more people are interested in correcting others than simply helping them.

[@JBDazen]

But he didn't answer it incorrectly, he just wasn't clear enough ;-)

[@strehlow]

@@JBDazen Many of us _thought_ he was incorrect due to the lack of clarity of the explanation. But that had the same effect on the peanut gallery :)

[@madkem1]

I feel like this has been a major force in the advance in science throughout history. Someone makes a claim and people can't wait to tell them that they are wrong. The modern theories are the ones that have stood up to all the arrows being fired at it.

[@0oShwavyo0]

@@madkem1 yeah honestly seems about right. Same goes for new tech. Most things seem like a bad idea at first and need to be proven. I imagine the first guy to say "forget swords, we need to be making as many metal tubes, tiny balls, and as much black powder as we can" sounded pretty dumb at the time.

[@adhithyas7214]

Wow that's awesome, I will use this technique from now.

[@nicholasgarcia6402]

It honestly feels like a brand new genre of KZbin Science. Idk how many other science videos are out there like this, but many of the best math and science KZbinrs were referenced in this epic meta-analysis of KZbin science thought. This felt bigger, like vlog peer review. Think of the potential!!! Thanks Veritasium!

[@Best-um3eq]

can now someone explain workings of battery if charges dont move ???

[@niq3d]

This was my thought as well, I made a note to use this video as an example of how the scientific method and peer review can work. it makes you see the real potential to educate among those who for whatever reason don't want to delve too deeply into the text books, but want to go further than the standard videos and documentaries will usually go. thoroughly enjoyable!

[@himan12345678]

@@Best-um3eq I could be wrong since I'm not properly educated on this, but I would say newton's equal and opposite reaction explains it well. The difference in charge potential is what initially sets off the electrical field cascade. The field acts on the charges within the battery so they drive each other continuously, equal and opposite. Until the potential charge difference is equalized, and so then the circuit charges can equalize to a stable state as well.

[@Best-um3eq]

@@himan12345678 you missed important concept of Neil boht. Classical physics don't apply there

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

Crucial 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 💖

[@robocobrabot]

Really great! Makes me appreciate how difficult chip design must be!

[@azeomcstill5071]

Going into more depth really helps! It's interesting how everything is linked, em fields, current, emf, frequency, transmission lines, capacitive, inductive and mutual coupling, Fourier analysis...

[@Emma-td8bb]

I studied mechanical engineering at university and have never heard such a clear explanation of how electricity works! This video is awesome

[@Jameswrightdavid]

This kind of thing is how humanity develops. The next generations are the ones who will be pushing the world forwards. Education like this is game changing. No doubt many teachers will be incorporating this!

[@Anonymous20289]

And few days later your brain will be washed with another theory 😂

[@iconzero9417]

I agree, and am now subscribed.

[@Best-um3eq]

can now someone explain workings of battery if charges dont move ???

[@JoeARedHawk275]

@@Anonymous20289 You good bro?

[@mahaveer2407]

I graduated from a top-tier engineering college of India (I.I.T.) in Electrical Engineering and the four years of my college did not touch up even a fraction of what is being discussed here. Naturally, all of us became software developers because of the minimal emphasis on ACTUALLY learning about Electrical Engineering versus preparing for exams. I wish scientific education & awareness like this reaches to everyone for free.

[@ChintanPandya01]

If the majority used the internet in today's day and age to spread and absorb such brilliant knowledge, the world would have been a different place. Instead we have meme videos an item songs trending at over 100 million views. Same cases as everywhere in the world. At least we are here utilising it.

[@gekkkoincroe]

@@OkarinHououinKyouma yes ?

[@haveagreatday8431]

@@ChintanPandya01 I don't get why scientists hate on celebrities What is wrong with u ppl

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

Can you debunk this? 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 💖

[@bowietwombly5951]

As an archaeologist and ethnobotanist, my focuses are about as far away from electrical engineering as you can get while still having a toe under the umbrella of “The Sciences”. I have an extremely curious mind though and I always want to know how things work and why they work. Before these two videos, electricity had been a MASSIVE gap in my knowledge of how the world around me works, and an extremely crucial one. Thank you so much for doing such an impressive job communicating extremely complex topics in a way that is both approachable for novices, AND intuitive in final comprehension. I have spent enough years teaching and around other teachers to be in awe of how effortless you make science communication seem.

[@Dazza_Doo]

If you like Derek, have you seen Rick Hartley (contributing person that Derek used in this original video)? Rick Hartley "Grounding" on YT and you will find one of his best key notes. The Science Asylum as had a series that Derek took inspiration, called "Electrodynamics". Everything is a abstraction and this is why they use a Water model to explain Electricity, which is why it's also Wrong.

[@hughleyton693]

Unfortunately Derek's video is WRONG and so adding to your misunderstanding of Electricity.

[@Dazza_Doo]

@@hughleyton693 You are Wrong! Here's why - the energy is in the EM fields, this is demonstrated in every transformer, every capacitor. It's not like that Derek himself is wrong he's actually repeating Decorate information that is the study of physics called electrodynamics. There's a reason why the circuit board designers actually listen to this science because of the EMI - That is to say the electromagnetic interference is A problem that modern circuit board designers and chief manufacturers have to deal with. My because the electromagnetic field carries the energy And that's an abstract way of Trying to explain what's going on at the sub atomic.

[@hughleyton693]

@@Dazza_Doo . . . No. . . I understand Electricity from DC to Microwave rather well.. . . . EM fields with a DC Current of perhaps a few Amps and at 1.5V even say 24V are so very small and weak you would be hard to detect them. . . And since his wires were 1 metre apart and about 2 metres above the ground, then there would be NO EM fields reacting with anything. . . We only consider EM fields at Radio frequencies, not DC. . .. . Transformers will not work at DC which is what Derek was working with in that Video. . .. . Just think how all those wires in your car work and do what they are supposed to do, without interfering with each other and most certainly not using external fields to pass the current to your car lights etc.

[@Dazza_Doo]

@@hughleyton693 Now you're referring to DC steady state however you don't understand the rise time of the electromagnetic field in the instant that the switch is physically connected to each other which is then a transient state and a transient state is an AC signal. DC city-state is an entirely different beast in fact you can use the lump sum model in that situation. Electrical energy isn't in the voltage and amps, those are measurements. The energy in a car as you drive down the road in not in the speedometer.

[@tiarinhino2838]

This was a great video that actually helped me to understand electricity much better than I already had. And the way you handled all the other "reaction" videos was really top notch. Thanks again!

[@WillKrause21]

Veritasium in the last year or two has really revived my hope that youtube science can be more than either crazy conspiracy videos or purely informational. He's doing the closest a pop-scientist has done to science since the mythbusters, and he's arguably added the important step of peer review into his process.

[@joshanonline]

"can be more than crazy conspiracy videos"? What have you been watching to think that of youtube? Everyone knows this is a platform for Cat Videos.

[@cryinmonkey2003]

I encourage you to take a look at the youtube channel "Kurzgesagt in a Nutshell". Highly informative and entertaining educational animations about all aspects of Science and reality.

[@sfurules]

@@zaferalabbas Kurzgesagt is so good and fills me with just the best dread....

[@quasa0]

@@cryinmonkey2003 or 3 blue 1 brown

[@zyansheep]

@@quasa0 or

[@scrazzle]

Fantastic to see experts, engineers, and scientists calling each other out in the interest of providing good science and accurate information. Then we see competitive and collaborative discussion that results in getting to the heart of the matter and getting as close as we can (for now) to the truth of it. Without vitriol or maliciousness.

[@sstillwell]

This is the scientific method playing itself out in front of you...postulation of a hypothesis, design of experiment, publish results, hypothesis and experiment get peer-reviewed, watch those results be reproduced. So freaking awesome...even if it was kind of accidental. :)

[@BiggySeth]

I think a better electrical analogy is not water flow but *Pressurized Air* The *Energy* of electricity (NOT the electrons themselves but the energy) are like gas molecules at an equal but high and constant pressure throughout the circuit trying to disperse in all directions. The wires are like very efficient but slightly porus pipes, while the electrical device like a light bulb is a *Release Valve* that makes use of that energy. The pipes ( *Wires* ) efficiently funnel most of the air pressure ( *Energy* ) towards a release valve ( *Light Bulb* ) Note: The Switch that closes the circuit in this analogy is not a valve, it just allows for a *Pressurized Environment* for the pipes ( *Wires* ) and the releasing valve ( *Light Bulb* ) The Battery in this analogy would of course be the Pressure Tank, but of 2 valves where it's air (energy) will only escape when both of it's valves are alowed to pass through the 2 pipes ( + & - wires ) out through the same circuit, releasing pressure out through a valve (light bulb) in the form of heat and light. This analogy explains things like Voltage and Resistance like why wires are less efficient the longer, thinner, and less insulated they are. -Porus pipes will release more air the longer they are (more pipe = more pores) while thinner porus pipes can't are unable to pass as much pressure ( *current/voltage* ) causing resistance. If there is no valve in the closed circuit the pressure ( *Energy* ) can only be released through the pores within the pipes ( *Wires* ) eventually bursting the pipes ( *frying the circuit* ) from the amount of high pressure. Would this be a better analogy for layman's terms?

[@MultiChrisjb]

Well the only time vitriol or malice is required is when your argument cant stand up to other points of view. And perhaps you've tied your ego to it.

[@0verfiend]

@@MultiChrisjb we know that.

[@BerryTheBnnuy]

That's great and all but I've lost respect for him, because he proposes a lightbulb that comes on instantly with any flow of electricity. Such a light bulb would have 0 resistance, yet he uses a resistor as a stand in. What's more, such a light bulb would come on instantly in the presence of any moving magnetic field. In other words, turning such a light bulb off would be much more impressive feat than turning it on instantly with an insanely long superconducting wire connecting it. The fact that he doesn't realize that his physical experiment isn't even remotely analogous to his hypothesis despite even having a lot of back and forth with someone who's made videos pointing out those errors has made me lose respect. Scientists are self correcting, Veritasium is not.

[@donstockman2531]

Thanks for the video Derek. This video brought a greater understanding to me of how electricity works. Now I want to challenge you to either prove or disprove that high-end audio cables make a difference in sound.

[@toutrec9668]

Great clarification and in line with what i had seen before (lumped model and transmission line). Appreciate that some of my main issues between my intuitive understanding and the models have been mentioned although i am left with the same questions (for example i find the definition of an electric field very flat and difficult to use).

[@NathanRichHotpot]

Both videos were successful in that they taught many people, including myself, a very interesting aspect of electricity.

[@bradleyeric14]

Better drama than Netflix offers!

[@odiihinia]

This also answered my biggest electricity question: How do the electrons KNOW they are going to get SUCKED into the other end?

[@itscky2007]

I have learned alot

[@MelonEsuk]

Hi Nathan Rich ,ccp puppet why are you here ?

[@nguyenbaminh436]

Ah yes, you, the guy who spread CCP propoganda. Why are you here, mate?

[@williebrort]

I think we as viewers can't appreciate enough how much work goes into the making of these graphical explanations. Creating these active images must take a significant time.

[@milerasuo6356]

Yap and e reason,to tink it thru and thru and thru and only then start to tink about materials so whole apparatus preform on max,parts (depending on job, materials, friction not double check and energy is lost by over hitting or drifting all over so when you asembel it in your mind you just turned it on and you can after some time stop it, and look for how to maybe get some form to smut aut vibration, also energy lost cute to most efisent that you can do,after some time in virtual lab-brain, just copy from blue print Frome Etar ,from find out what is needed for all or to you like tool upgrade for jet easy and better preform vhail you can continue inventing , practically,greater,more this rock friendly,,,copy from the natural,, Viktor Shaunberg..3,6,9, frekfencije, wave, light and we cud be able to get Devin more, little by little if we continue inventing things that are really going to be need and justing to get some steps closer to are crietor by making all aut good for birds,plants,lend,voter,if we continue to that way I think that lot of people that are alive now,while be able to see forming on as real fizička wings i am Shure we just to have but,beacouse humanity took some rong turnns,we got little lost,but if we continue little slower and conses the wings while start to floris same as Creator Good all matey,we are going out to next generation we got to love the life,like we live the love, were heading out to aur Creator Good all we made by himself by the way of the hand of the almighty hvala,i slavimo tvorca našeg i sve božanstvene stvari iskonskom,pravom slavom života,dobra.

[@alanyuan1049]

@@toxicdust2483 Expand on that.

[@cr1197]

@@alanyuan1049 That would mean having any idea or point beyond being a troll. Don't wait up for them.

[@milerasuo6356]

Woooow and after lot of time ju came to , how much time we spent bay making a video about some topics to what teaching about what and hume

[@milerasuo6356]

@@cr1197 woooow people i was born and raised in Balkan little state Serbija,and we don't just glagoljica but ćirilica so i notest that it really have big influence on witch language we think so i apologize to all serious people... about my western grama i am sorry for my bad English i not no how to tip out my thoughts

[@swish1onu]

If you guys haven't figured it out ... he "apologizes" for not bring clear in his explanation.. well, hes too smart to make that type of "mistake" on ACCIDENT... his intentions were to CAUSE controversy... to generate interest and participation... i think its a genius play... bravo kid.. bravo

[@ayte1549]

I think the thought of the space between the wires as capacitors, charging one by one and transmitting energy to the other side even if the circuit is open at the ends really makes it clear

[@JenkoRun]

You might like the MIT Dissectible Capacitor video.

[@hughleyton693]

The wires are small and 1 metre apart means there is almost no capacitance between them.. . . So small it has almost no effect.

[@AusSkiller]

This is why I love science, if something isn't entirely correct or is poorly explained lots of people go and test it to prove it wrong and demonstrate why, so we end up with even better explanations for things :)

[@NPCSpotter]

This is true except when it comes to abiogenesis and evolution

[@somerandomdude712]

@@NPCSpotter agree, i may like the evolution theory, but in the end, there is so much unexplained on why we ended up on how we are, hopefully we gain more information.

[@Tooob]

Except for when no dissent is allowed on a topic and all credible discussion of that dissent is banned from all public platforms. Then it's not science, it's propaganda.

[@shockerpb420]

If it worked out perfect every time there wouldn't be any scientific advancement

[@shockerpb420]

@@Tooob what do you consider credible discussion about that?

[@TroubleChute]

I'm glad this was clarified. This is super advanced, but incredibly interesting.

[@guydunn5354]

As a first year electrical engineering student my brain is melting at the implications.

[@ClockworkDave]

@@guydunn5354 The whole way through I'm thinking of the implications for PCBs and then sure enough the PCB guy shows up.

[@NanClaymore]

It wasn't clarified, it was corrected. Rather than admit his errors, he just ignored them, and presented it again using the arguments of his critics, but as if all his critics misunderstood him. No, veritasium misunderstood what would happen and his previous video was just wrong. Guy, as a first year EE student, you probably already knew about capacitance and capacitors, but it is good to start thinking early about the fact that all conductors have shared capacitance between them....you have lots of capacitances in every circuit whether there are actual capacitors there or not...most of them just aren't large enough to do anything -- turn on a light, for example.

[@Dr_Jeff]

You either accept Maxwell's Equations or you don't. If you do then the important issue here is that Veritsium's presentation relies on transients and the dE/dt and dB/dt terms. In the case of DC scenario, however, the current density J is the ONLY source of the B field so whilst factually correct Veritasium's presentation is misleading. Whilst the field is present the Poynting Vector E X B is in turn due to the movement of charge INSIDE the cable. Also as a veteran PCB designer I can confirm that none of the comments apply to DC-only PCB designs unless transients are important.

[@MatthewDoye]

Half of this video was over my head, I think the first video got it right for a general audience though it obviously didn't satisfy those with more specialist knowledge.

[@claudeabraham2347]

Very good. I always use the Poynting vector. It is always "pointing" in the direction that energy is moving.

[@badhartig]

Your work here is an exemplar of how the scientific method should function, with robust discussion and interaction! Thank you for sharing your pursuit for truth and knowledge!

[@mudman1st]

As a basic electrician in australia this makes perfect sense. We actually learn a little bit about it in trade school. It help us understand why certain circuits need shielding, why transformers work and why cables need to be distanced properly.

[@slaviceno]

As a common clay of the earth peasant who somehow still managed get his laureate diploma in 3 years of university in informatics to im gonna say i lost the thought in first 5 minutes of this video and dint had any clue what was happening later beside the " oh i know the significant of this single word" but not the meaning of the whole phrase, yes the shepherd dogs and sheep was clear.. but nothing before or after it made sense for me

[@ColonelDecker001]

@@slaviceno Which word?

[@Jamesthe1]

It also made a fair sum of sense as someone who's delved into networking. "Crosstalk" is a thing on ethernet cables, which explains all the shielding and wrapping.

[@emsa5034]

Why do most men seem to come equipped with random knowledge of cars and electricity lmao

[@Jamesthe1]

Monke brain see thing Monke brain want to understand thing Monke brain spend hours studying thing

[@clown134]

it makes me so happy to see the KZbin science community coming together and working on stuff like this peacefully happily and cooperatively especially in such awful times

[@africankidd3642]

wym by "awful times"

[@adamself2463]

But... the serious questions weren't answered. Race relations, gender identity, pronouns, religion, what is a woman!? This guy is getting canceled for not having social equity in his video, there was no representation of women and the only person I caught that might have been non-caucasian was relegated to the distant background. ...I hate that the current societal landscape makes me immediately jump to these ridiculous thoughts any time I see mention of peaceful coexistence. This is satire*.

[@igg12]

@@adamself2463 ask any religious leaders if they can take the criticism or not.. and this is not science not politics to you can just get out of here. Nobody wants you... nobody likes you... you are alone.

[@brandondabreo421]

If you focus on science as a profession or rather even a hobby you don't even bring up unrelated cultural changes. Be careful what you watch on the internet and stick to speaking to real people in the real world. These issues hardly come up IRL.

[@believeinjesus6972]

Repent to Jesus Christ “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭19:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬ J

[@LordErnie]

People claiming this man made a mistake. "One moment bro let me just call NASA level researchers". Nasa lever researchers: "No problem fam we got u". I do have to point out tho, that understanding this explination about electricity was far easier then my low level school taught me. Well done.

[@user-gg4is6db4u]

I am so grateful for this explanation! I spent years wondering what electricity really is as the V=IR, I=V/R and R=V/I was self referential, and didn't really explain anything. Great work!

[@mikewest5670]

It's interesting that we get to see scientists discuss this stuff over media in our era

[@Laotzu.Goldbug]

These guys are less scientists and more Science Communicators™

[@LucasCarter2]

If you think veritasium is a scientist of any value I’m sorry but you need to meet some real scientists who do real work.

[@darthmaul197]

@@LucasCarter2 you need to explain more for your comment to have any value

[@visionentertainment8006]

​@@LucasCarter2 More of a scientist than you

[@realn0s_yt]

@@LucasCarter2 He has a PhD in physics brother. Even if he is not a scientist by profession, he has to have been at one point and is certainly still qualified.

[@u.s.4129]

I decided to become a Civil Engineer and not an Electrical Engineer mostly because I didn't understand the electric curcuit and found nobody explaining it to me. Electrons were pushing each other and somehow the fields were part of the show. Now, more than thirty years later, I saw your video, Derek, and I only can thank you very much. I wish you all the best from Germany

[@TheSunshineRequiem]

ready to change career now?

[@soonahero]

Beta

[@renukareddy2280]

Did YOU make vedio showing the misconception of misconception…. Wait that’s a cantors paradox

[@josephshaff5194]

We suffer that here as well. To combat this we must discuss it!

[@BibinVenugopal]

Sarcasm?

[@stephenpark8722]

I loved this. It actually helps me understand my job as an EMI EMC Tech.

[@huzbum]

I'm glad you made this clarification, because I misunderstood the point. I thought the original video was suggesting that the full voltage/current would be present at 1m/c, which would make me question if this is a simulation and that's a programming error. This full explanation makes a lot more sense, and is actually something I already understood.

[@artinmo1135]

I just love all of this. I mean the bigger picture of it, the fact that we live in a time where people "fight" to find the best way of explaining things and improve our collective understanding of science. And we all watch these videos and read comments and is absolutely beautiful. I think this is the right direction for humanity, a place where all of us are curious, and we try to understand the world around us and discover maybe new things and most importantly, find ways to explain what we already know to others. Kudos to these youtubers building this kind of space.

[@pyguy9915]

^this 100%

[@believeinjesus6972]

Repent to Jesus Christ “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭19:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬ T

[@electronresonator8882]

but they simply end up with, I am right and you are wrong, ....do you think that's how people should do science? simply like religion dogma?

[@TiagoSilveira]

yes, just like in the 1800s at the first universities, but now with everybody watching. Science happens in the collective.

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

Can you debunk this? 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 💖

[@thorenshammer]

Positive or negative, this is what true science and engineering is all about. The discourse and discussions you have with others in the fields, is, to borrow a phrase, brilliant. Great video.

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

Crucial 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 💖

[@bramkivenko9912]

Why can't he say the word "antenna"?

[@jeffreycraig9860]

Ac

[@PrepExpert]

I see what you did there

[@kevinghill8669]

It’s more than that

[@vladyslavkryvoruchko]

The cycle of Veritasium: - Veritasium makes a controversial video - Everybody disagrees - They call Derek out - Derek makes another video on the topic that provides deeper explanation and specifications on misunderstandings, proving his point - Everybody is on his side now - He also credits all the people that called him out for maximum opposition - And the cycle repeats

[@rayraycthree5784]

I saw electrical pulse delays every day in the lab while working as an engineer at a major aerospace company. Since most signals were on PCBs, the time delays were in small nanosecond. While the electron flow is relatively slow, the field change is fast. Matching impedance (capacitance- inductance) of the cable or transmission line with the source and load best preserved the pulse shape. The rule of thumb is 1 nS/ft for delays. What appeared to be an initial voltage on the bulb may have been an instrumentation error related to how you attached the probes and their grounds at the source and load. And if you have a DC or low frequency AC current in too thin a wire, the heat generated isn't in the air or a ground plane, it is in the wire that is carrying the electron current.

[@ScienceAsylum]

11:08 "And at that instant, the electric field inside the conductor is no longer zero..." Thank you! I felt like I was only person saying this out loud.

[@Mrhappy33664]

Ur verified and I like ur comment first. So hi 👋

[@Adhithya2003]

Hey Nick!!

[@phxuibs846]

Happy to see you here, Nick!! =)

[@tama3442]

*What is the Gospel?* The true gospel is the good news that God saves sinners. Man is by nature sinful and separated from God with no hope of remedying that situation. But God, by His power, provided the means of man’s redemption in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of GOD, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Romans 10:9 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. JESUS CHRIST can come anytime! REPENT OF YOUR SINS Just Believe ❤️ Love you and GOD BLESS

[@Edd211]

Gaming channel playing all Souls games when???

[@bobbertbobberson6725]

Disconnected wires working despite not being part of the physical circuit is mindblowing... until I remembered radios exist

[@bdL91]

Understated comment! Electromagnetic radiation is wild

[@HiArashi13]

@@bdL91 Ye, it's lit

[@InXLsisDeo]

they turn into. very small capacitors, so the effect lasts a small fraction of a second until it is charged.

[@vr2vna]

I almost convinced by this video but ...... model the circuit in HFSS transient simulation should reveal similar result. It is just EM wave propagation together with circuit.

[@__Razer]

Your comment just gave me closure.

[@theherbalistsassistant]

as someone with a physics degree and almost an electrical engineering minor your videos are awesomely inspiring in way most of my classes never were

[@hughleyton693]

Yes there are fields both Voltage and Magnetic fields around wires. .. The voltage field radiates away from the wire, when there is voltage on the wire relative to the ground, and can not induce the current in the wire, and the magnetic field rotates around the wire when there is current flowing in the wire.. . . BUT Both these are very small and almost insignificant below about 100 Voltage and less than 10 Amps. . . . But neither of these are responsible for the POWER down wires. . . 99.9% something % of the Power in Wires at DC and low frequency AC is due to the VOLTAGE difference between the wire ends, causing Current to flow down INSIDE the wire.. . . I hope you now understand this, and understand how pulses will travel down the wire at about 60% of the speed of light, in the wire, and the EM fields are far too small to do anything across the 1 metre air space.

[@user-yc5fq9bv3u]

I loved how important your information is and hated how unrelated some of it is to the original question.

[@cuttlefish8184]

I love internet science. Like this is the exact thing that happened with scientists hundreds of years ago, just much slower because of communication technology. A bunch of people who make a claim, people dispute it, they run the experiment. Its just brilliant.

[@Th3EpitapH]

kind of. it's even more exciting when it's new and not communicating something already-known

[@cuttlefish8184]

@@Th3EpitapH Yes thats true. But most new stuff is way out of scope for the average person (for now). And to be fair I feel like most people didn't know much of this information. Im in a college physics class right now and they didn't really touch on the idea of the fields move the energy not the electrons

[@anacreon212]

I see what you are saying. internet arguments between scientists as akin to the 1800 with letters and challenges to eachother.

[@LuisSierra42]

@@Th3EpitapH Well i did not know any of this and i graduated from Electronics

[@dcamron46]

@@anacreon212 yeah but those were actually educated people...the internet comprises the masses of mediocre knowledge. Letters of scientists in the 1800s were by experts who pushed the field forward. This forum is for people who didn't know how electricity works 30 minutes ago :-\

[@crschoen123]

I love how feedback from the community resulted in an even more thorough answer than the original video.

[@Spiderslay3r]

And this follow-up too lol

[@panteaofisica]

Very enlightening! This part of physics at the microscopic level always causes a lot of headaches, but it's crucial for you to kill the problem. I still have some doubts, and you clarified exactly what I was looking for. Besides the initial pulse, a small current is established until the field, channeled by the wires, reaches the bulb and generates the maximum and permanent current. The wires are important, but even so, it's the field that transmits the energy, and this becomes evident when you discover how slow the drift velocity of electrons is. It's hard to say if your first video is right or wrong.

[@hughleyton693]

Yes there are fields both Voltage and Magnetic fields around wires. .. The voltage field radiates away from the wire, when there is voltage on the wire relative to the ground, and can not induce the current in the wire, and the magnetic field rotates around the wire when there is current flowing in the wire.. . . BUT Both these are very small and almost insignificant below about 100 Voltage and less than 10 Amps. . . . But neither of these are responsible for the POWER down wires. . . 99.9% something % of the Power in Wires at DC and low frequency AC is due to the VOLTAGE difference between the wire ends, causing Current to flow down INSIDE the wire.. . . I hope you now understand this, and understand how pulses will travel down the wire at about 60% of the speed of light, in the wire, and the EM fields are far too small to do anything across the 1 metre air space.

[@hmmmblyat6178]

Man, all you had to say was: Quantum Electro Dynamics, and we would all have been satisfied and went home.

[@professorxgaming2070]

What an interesting video. As a high Voltage linemen I have experienced this field while working under transmission lines. We measured voltage on our truck of 275 volts measured truck to dirt. We could also take light bulbs and light them up while connected to nothing, just under the lines. Really cool stuff. Still a bit hard to wrap ones head around, but i think you did a great job

[@skreenname229]

I tell ppl and they don't believe me LMAO under the power lines swinGinG fluorescent bulbs around like liGhtsabers 😂😂😂. I used to Go floatinG down the river every Sunday when I was 21 BC it was my only day off and what a better way to spend it than a Giant lazy river where you don't Get cell service??? It was nice way to unpluG, well anyway at the end of the float there is a section of power lines that you pass under and you know to start GettinG ready for the exit. This Guy that used to float with us was a little older than me and would swear that sometimes the old Gospel AM station around here would just be playinG in the air when you Got to the power lines and we all thouGht he was bat sh!t crazy until the Gospel station was playinG faintly one day when we floated under the lines and it blew my mind and I learned about RF induction. 🤯🤯🤯

[@allthe1]

Awesome!

[@gvcjbf1266]

Can we cummunicate faster than light using electric fields in lasers?🤔

[@AndreAbascal]

@@skreenname229 Just to clarify... You mean that actual sound could be heard somewhere below the power lines because of RF induction in the power lines?

[@charlidog2]

@@AndreAbascal Where would the demodulation be?

[@stephen3418]

Seeing Maxwell’s equations in action with a circuit has fundamentally opened my eyes to the mysteries of electricity that I never quite understood in the past. This will forever change the way I understand the exciting concept of electricity. Thanks

[@Ur3rdiMcFly]

I wanted to say this. I was taught electricity in the simple way, and the visual just shortcuts such an incredible amount of reading and trying to picture it in your head. Ever seen those DNA visualized in 3D videos? Or PBS SpaceTime? I've learned more on KZbin than I did in school! 😂

[@TheExoplanetsChannel]

me too

[@josepedrogaleanogomez4870]

Electricity should be taught in this way. Now that we have the processing power to illustrate the effect of maxwell's equations in real time in a software, we should show it to students and teach them about it that way; its easier to learn by watching.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

I never really understood electricity because all those equations seemed too abstract. I really appreciate videos like this for actually making me understand things.

[@quasa0]

@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 this

[@wenwu-xu]

I'm thoroughly enjoying your videos. Recently, I indulged in a couple of your content pieces concerning electricity and I must say, they're top-notch. I appreciate the effort you put into crafting these insightful resources. Now, moving on to a question I have: it's my understanding that energy transmission is facilitated by fields. Could you elucidate how partial energy loss, in terms of electrical energy, comes into play? My initial assumption was that the electrical kinetic energy, transported by electrons, was lost through collisions with atomic cores, thereby converting it into heat. Could you shed some light on this?

[@ares395]

This video answers so many questions I've had for ages but then forgot about in my adult life. Amazing. Also I can't help but think of electric fields now as a sort of pressure.

[@hosoiarchives4858]

It has a lot of problems

[@rath4848]

This man is so dedicated to his work that when someone doubts his claims he just does it to see if he was right or wrong.

[@CyborusYT]

thats science

[@MrUssy101]

Dafuq Y’all care bout how electricity is cooked. All I care I charge my phone and can scroll tiktok !!!!

[@animelian1]

@SoftserveSodium ?

[@ja-no6fx]

Isn't that the scientific method?

[@unvergebeneid]

I mean he wasn't the first KZbinr to do this experiment. AFAIK AlphaPhoenix was in response to Veritasium's video. Edit: Ah, Derek acknowledges him later in the video, my bad.

[@SnoopGotTheScoop]

as a comp eng. major I remember spending hours trying to get intuition about how electrons are moving through a circuit with a battery. I remember googling around looking at forums, but never really getting a good explanation. This actually clears up so much. I wish they would go more in depth in basic physics textbooks so people like me don't have to waste so much time trying to get intuition.

[@aarondavis8943]

When I was training as a communication technician, we were constantly expected to accept something and move on. My mind (and I suspect many of my co-workers) finds it difficult to work that way. I need to understand something fundamentally or I'm just confused. Needless to say, I wasn't a very good technician. 😂

[@yaboiiii]

Thankfully I had a really good professor in my introductory University Electrical Physics class and really cleared up many of the misconceptions for me. A good teacher will make all of the difference

[@thewondersock3818]

Same. Wish I had an explanation like this when I was working circuits courses with EEs in my earlier years of my program.

[@schroecat1]

@@aarondavis8943 Far too much of our educational and training systems operate that way, and it's terrible for the development of actual understanding (and thus in-depth troubleshooting). They default to shortcuts that feel too much like hand-wavy, religious faith "just trust me" arguments.

[@SuperChuckRaney]

@@schroecat1 I've founf that what is happening is... those shortcuts... are from trying to condense 2 weeks of info into 2 minutes, it gets SO SHORT it becomes incorrect.

[@alexandreleroy671]

This is incredible. I have studied engineering for a while now and never has it been once explained like this. I always had millions of unanswered questions and it always slowed my understanding.Thanks a lot. Hope you'll see this in the ocean of comments you get

[@AccelYT]

This explanation was flawed in many ways. For starters the guy even doesn't touch such a question, why EM-field travels at different speeds in metals compared to vacuum. I guess he is also a victim of misconceptions.

[@inafridge8573]

​@@AccelYTSeems like that's out of the scope of the topic, the point was that the energy is moved by the EM field rather than the electrons themselves, and that includes the parts of the EM field outside the wire. Where were the flaws in trying to explain that?

[@hughleyton693]

This is not incredible, simply WRONG information. But I can answer your questions on this subject.

[@robertwaddell8427]

Most important thing occurred is when learning happened. Bravo, good job.

[@ADEpoch]

I'm an ex-electrician and an electronics enthusiast from way back, and I've never heard such a thorough explanation of how electricity works from any of my text books and lecturers. Thanks. I learnt a lot.

[@andrewwashere9151]

As an Electrical Engineer that studied PCB design, like Rick Hartley, we were all too aware of field effect induction and transmission in arrayed semiconductor components. This video takes it from the nano world to the macro world and demands that all electronics be taught from Maxwell's understanding and not Ohm first.

[@lq202]

Maxwell equations my friend! Dig dipper

[@InXLsisDeo]

We don't learn it in Physics studies either, and yet it is described in Feynman chapter 27 of book 2 ("Field Energy and Field Momentum", you can read it online). While even Feynman calls it "nuts", he agrees Derek's understanding is what the equations say and is the correct understanding. The fact that simulations that solve the Maxwell's equations show exactly that's what's happening should be sufficient to convince us that it's correct, as noone doubts Maxwell's equations, which have never failed and are correct under relativistic assumptions (in fact the B field is a consequence of relativistic movement of the electrons).

[@danbrown3103]

Me too. Same training as you. He is absolutely right. Love it. Got my brain going again.

[@thepm517]

​@@andrewwashere9151 absolutely, That's why I cannot understand the electricity because it is not clear with funadamentals, even I ask the lecturer, their answers doesn't satisfy

[@EngineeringMindset]

Me: trying to grossly overly simplify everything so anyone can understand. Veritasium: ha! I'm going to melt everyone's mind and make them question reality, hold my beer.

[@edislucky]

+1 new sub

[@MrUssy101]

Dafuq Y’all care bout how electricity is cooked. All I care I charge my phone and can scroll tiktok !!!!

[@Marekletsplay]

haha

[@Arvl.]

My brain: imma head out

[@hunormagyar1843]

@@MrUssy101 bruh lol

[@RedWordsFirst]

From someone with zero knowledge of electricity, this was very informative. I always thought electricity flowed through wires almost like a liquid would in pipes. The thought about the fields is blowing my mind.

[@hughleyton693]

You are correct, Derek is WRONG. . . . Electricity, particularly at DC, does flow through the wires and NOT in external fields. You are correct, Derek was Wrong.

[@reenabalasarangi9331]

Derek DOES his homework, unlike everyone else. A true physicist 😊😊❤

[@Pwn3dbyth3n00b]

Derek has elevated his KZbin game from breaking down complex concepts into simple videos that the general masses can enjoy to complexifying "simple" concepts taught in high school and entry level physics college courses to upper class/masters/PhD levels to entertain the general masses.

[@yunyubaek]

Derek finally proved that I wasn't hallucinating through my electrical engineering classes. These concepts makes no sense in the normal sense even after 2 years of learning this, and he nails explaining them.

[@DrGeorgeAntonios]

Well said.

[@alkali6]

@@yunyubaek he is probably the most qualified to explain, I believe he has a doctoral degree in physics education

[@mika274]

@@yunyubaek I agree. Before I watched the last video I had worked out everything(intuitively and with material over a period of 3 years). Except I didn't make the connection that the energy is in the fields. That revelation blew my mind. But it also makes sense because I had never understood poynting theorem before. And hence never thought that it would have active use in the real world.

[@brunof1734]

Simple videos? His videos are complicated on purpose for the wow factor and the show. His apologies for leaving out the units were not sincere. He is too smart to have left out that detail

[@TeunSegers]

I love it when the science YT community disagrees. All participants try to come up with well-founded arguments and each can help progress understanding in a different way because they all have their own approach. Even if they are wrong, which inevitable some of them are, the error helps comprehension.

[@jdbroke162]

Agree. That is why we should always have the freedom to express ourselves in any field. Humankind expands from freedom of such.

[@koalabandit9166]

You know who else wanted the freedom to understand things? Hitler. Very problematic.

[@failingeverything5793]

@@koalabandit9166 You know who else wants the freedom to understamd things. Litterally everyone. Its a human feeling. Saying its problematic is like saying hunger is problimatic. You know who else likes to eat food. Hitler. Very problimatic.

[@koalabandit9166]

@@failingeverything5793 You should change the "Failing" in your username to "Missing".

[@RyedaleAirsoft]

That's what science is all about!

[@yourhealinghome8812]

You're describing the experience of the process of peer review, the foundation of the Enlightenment practice of exchanging and discussing Natural Philosophy. You, as a science explainer, on a popular platform, (You Tube) in addition to educating us curious followers, you've kicked up a beautiful example of the mechanism enforcing accountability that maintains the impeccable accuracy of scientific work that goes through peer review. Thank you for showing your widest audience the process that sets scientific understanding apart and above popular conversation.

[@0G_PND4]

That’s crazy as soon as I heard your explanation, in your first video, it completely made sense. Explains why magnets interrupt and even destroy electronics. Great work.😄 I guess people did hang on your thought provoking experiment more than what you were trying to explain. 🤔

[@steffenbreyer]

This video goes so deep that the boundaries between energy transmission by cable and by radio disappear. This is very complicated for a non-expert and can hardly be explained more simply than in this video. Thank you.

[@famousadio]

A transformer using the magnetic field of the primary wire coil to induce power to the secondary coil. I believe is what he is trying to illustrate by showing that with the wires close together, a voltage is jumping across instead of traveling down the lengths of the entire wire. It is inducing a voltage to the wire with its magnetic field.

[@matteosnet]

@@famousadio was thinking the same thing but Faraday's Law (which is when you refer to coils and magnetic field explanation) is to create a new voltage source. The secondary end of the transformer is just another voltage source . In this video the unintuitive thing is the way in which a load can reach its energy from an electric source. . Can someone confirm if 11:22 is wrong or not. I've never heard of a moving electric field giving you an induced (induced because it is happening across an air gap) voltage. This video says 5V induced across the resistor and 14mW of power dissipated over the 'short gap' time before the bulk of the energy gets to it over the longer cable path. We know the cable has very good electric and magnetic permitivity properties which is why the energy doesn't dissipate away as easily. However across an air gap the permitvity basically sucks and is technically where all the energy is actually dissipated in an electric motor. The air gap in this circuit is just extremely big. Motor Air gaps are a key design and affect overall strength of magnetic circuit and motor efficiency. Only Faraday's Law is what I accept at giving you induced voltage to a new circuit across a gap but only from a moving magnetic field.

[@secrecy3915]

I bet there would be simpler explanations if people weren't coddled with plain wrong explanations that refuse to make sense at higher levels of understanding. The objective should be to give a lesser understanding, not a hobbled understanding.

[@moredots]

My first thought on seeing this explanation was "...did Derek just invent an antenna?"

[@moredots]

My first thought on seeing this explanation was "...did Derek just invent an antenna?"

[@eris902]

I wanted to say that as a viewer I really appreciate how you went about making this revisit. It can often be too easy to defend one's position in a way that is basically just lashing out. Instead this was well put together and explanative

[@peterisawesomeplease]

The video is well put together and exploitative but its a horrible defense of the previous video. People were not calling out the previous video because they disagreed with the physics they were calling it out because it was purposefully designed to confuse people. And this video really does not address that complaint. It addresses many of the specific aspects people found misleading but not by apologizing but by doubling down on considering them non issues.

[@albejaine]

@@peterisawesomeplease that complain is an asumption which I will suppose is false and as a result does not worth addressing or apologizing for.

[@landrecce]

The other youtubers will catch up eventually. Great job man! 🧙‍♂️

[@rootatlogic5216]

Best video and theory on EMF Ive ever seen love this so much

[@thebackyardbrewer5611]

I'm not an engineer or an electrician, but I remember years ago seeing fluorescent tubes being lit up just being near high voltage lines and my mind was blown and I realised back then that electricity and energy transmission was not what I thought it was. As a non expert but interested person I say bravo! 👏

[@vinamraparashar7590]

Yep. Everyone who's seen this happen would have got it by the first video. Energy is transmitted through the field, wires are just really effective in setting it up. Doesn't mean you can't get electricity outside of material wire connection.

[@hughleyton693]

I am an engineer and an electrician, so I know It is a nonsense con artist Video. . . . Sorry, but that is what it is.. . . At DC, all the power pushed by the Battery Voltage, moving Electrons INSIDE the copper wire to light the bulb. . . Nothing to do with any fields outside the wire, that is just a con.

[@thebackyardbrewer5611]

@@hughleyton693 Really! Damn I thought that was real.. oh well

[@techalyzer]

@@vinamraparashar7590 I recently gave up on using a 555 timer for something I want to do in my car (a toggle switch for remote engine start). That thing keeps turning off from the spark plug discharges. Completely shielding and grounding the shield didn't help either. It was one of those weirdness cases when I just don't feel like I want to keep going with it, because it's clearly way more complicated than I wanted it to be.

[@hughleyton693]

Hi, . I am an engineer and an electrician, and I work in DC and AC and Radio and I do know the scientific principles. . . At DC the Current does flow INSIDE the wire and nothing to do with any external fields, Veritasium has that very wrong.. . i do know the science.

[@djtokoloshe]

Congrats mate for perfectly embodying the scientific method. Thanks for not having an academic tantrum & making another video to clarify your position. This is how science moves forward. Cheers

[@paulmcburney6874]

Most academics wouldn't have a tantrum, but there is a reasonably large minority of *really* bad egos that make a lot of noise.

[@EvanPilb]

Aint no way veritasium would have a tantrum over academics

[@RavenGlenn]

@@EvanPilb He just did. That's what this video is. He was wrong and yet insists that he was correct because he claims to have actually meant something other than what he originally said. Why he couldn't just admit that his previous video was incorrect and then reshape his argument I'll never know.

[@kitersrefuge7353]

My brain gave up after @15:14. Fascinating...thank you!

[@bat__bat]

In generator-tech trade school we learned the right hand rule, and that magnetic fields emanate and collapse from the center of the conductor outwards in AC flowing circuits. The magnetic field "cuts" its own wire as it expands outwards, and cuts it again when it collapses. This was how we were taught that AC accomplishes Faraday's rules of induction, that the expanding and contracting magnetic field cutting its own wire, and possibly coils of nearby wire, at a set frequency is the motion of the magnetic field cutting a conductor. This "self-inflicted induction" AC causes is known as inductive reactance. We were taught this is how transformers operate, with AC a must-have to bring "relative motion" into the mix which should induce current in all conductors cut by the ever-propagating magnetic field in and around the wires, and even in wires not physically connected to the circuit. We were never taught that this "breathing" magnetic field in and around the wires were accompanied by an electric field brought on by surface charge differential that was started and maintained by some power source. We were not taught that these two interconnected fields actually transfer the energy which causes the electrons to move. This inductive reactance can get so out-of-hand that it creates a counter-voltage working against the source of power. With more motors on the circuit, capacitors may be needed to reduce the counter-EMF. "Current lags behind voltage" when dealing with an inductive-heavy circuit load, such as motors. This separation of the voltage and current arriving out of sync is known as the power factor, expressed in a percentage. The inverse cosine of the power factor equals the angle of separation between the voltage and current. This video demonstrates that the "conductor hopping" nature of AC transformers that is mind-boggling to us is a more appropriate demonstration of how electricity works than the contemporary idea of electrons flowing through a closed loop circuit inside low resistance conductors. Fascinating. Thank you.

[@Filaxsan]

This is what science is about: getting the word out there and...collaborate! Great job Derek, and great job to everyone who gave even a small contribution! You guys are awesome!!

[@dan8ball22]

Precisely

[@diceblue6817]

science is about intentionally misleading people for views and then making another video lying about it?

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

Can you debunk this? 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 💖

[@garythompson5901]

I really like the point that we sometimes take simplified models (such as Ohm's law) for granted and forget that they are just useful simplifications, just like Newton's law of gravity. I also greatly respect this and the preceding video for not just highlighting this in the electric circuits but helping develop a deeper understanding (with great visuals) of what is happening in circuits. Despite being complex, if we do not take for granted our simplified models and aim to appreciate the underlying mechanics we will develop a better intuition for how electricity works at macroscopic levels. This results in us being more successful in solving and designing problems related to electric circuits. Thanks Derek.

[@TomCruz54321]

This is science at work! People presenting theories, explanation of equations, and ending with an experiment. Great content.

[@RoumeliotisGeorge]

This is indeed true for transient or high frequency current. For low frequency and steady state however as a single LED (without power harnessing circuit) or light bulb on a battery needs for it not only to instantaneously to turn on but instead to stay on undisrupted, it certainly would need the long time to travel through an undisrupted cable and also sufficient time for the reflections to stabilise, i.e. the steady state to be reached.

[@tedsheridan8725]

Very cool video. It's a shame that the microscopic view of circuits, especially the surface charge distributions, is not better handled in physics and engineering textbooks. This cleared up a lot of questions I had. I would love to see you do a video on the "Lewin circuit paradox", as there are many related concepts here.

[@callenshawindiegames4491]

This saga has been one of the most interesting and wholesome things I've ever seen on youtube. Your first video led me to [re]discovering electroboom, alpha phoenix, and a few more awesome science channels. Watching everyone's different critiques and explanations was a kind of deep dive I didn't know I needed. Thanks, Derek.

[@MagiciteHeart]

Did you see the whole thing about a wind-powered vehicle going faster than the wind? That was a pretty intense saga as well.

[@LuisSierra42]

@@MagiciteHeart Veritasium pushing the boundaries of YT

[@d.bcooper2271]

After a few months, another contradicting "scientific fact" will emerge

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

Can you debunk this? 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 💖

[@shiftymiata]

I love that the educational side of KZbin is able to channel "drama" into a tool to find truth in science so effectively. You guys are all incredible.

[@MrNicePotato]

This is the best drama there is. Thousands of curious people around the world debating on a science problem, no matter the level of education. Impossible even in most academic setting.

[@jean-francoisbouchard3382]

Thank you very much for this follow-up. So the first video was not really fair and needed a better answer. After all, that's how research work: find something, try to explain roughly, others come to help, and produce a complete explaination at the end. So, amazing job. I understood absolutely everthing!

[@danielhughes441]

I cannot help but note a similarity in the electric field example and how respiration works (electrons are oxygen, protons are CO2…the battery is the lungs/heart, the lightbulb is the brain/body)