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- Michael Faraday: Unlocking the Mystery of Magnetism and Light Interaction
Michael Faraday: Unlocking the Mystery of Magnetism and Light Interaction
Explore how Michael Faraday's quest to discover the effect of magnetism on light through various materials led him to a breakthrough using a glass brick. Witness his determination and innovative experimentation in Cosmos A Spacetime Odyssey episode 10 part 11.
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Faraday knew that magnetism had no effect on light that was moving through air.
But what about when it was moving through other materials?
So what kind of material could he use to help the magnet move the light?
He tried hundreds of different transparent chemicals and objects,
but saw nothing through the eyepiece.
The light was not twisted by the magnet.
He tried crystals of calcite, sodium carbonate, calcium sulfate, and still he saw nothing.
He tried acids, sulfuric acid, muriatic acid, carbonic acid.
He tried gases, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, with no success.
The magnetic field induced in these substances could not twist the light from his lamp back into view.
Damn!
In desperation, he decided to try the glass brick,
the souvenir of his years of bondage to Devi.
It did the trick.
The force of the magnet twisted the light
so that it could pass through the crystal.
So what's the big deal?
Faraday had demonstrated the existence
of the physical reality that surrounds us,
but which no one had ever been able to detect.
it was as dramatic a breakthrough as seeing the cosmos for the very first time through a telescope.
By showing that an electromagnetic force could manipulate light,
Faraday had discovered a deeper unity of matter.
nature. He had opened a door for Einstein and all the physicists who came after him to glimpse the
interplay of hidden primal forces in the universe. Even as he approached the summit of his genius,
he was plagued by depression and doubts about his ability to retain even the simplest thoughts.
