Cosmos Recap: Finally, How The Motherf***ing Magnets Work
The title of this week’s Cosmos, “The Electric Boy,” isn’t a Spielberg movie. It just sounds like one. Our electric boy is Michael Faraday (1791-1867), who puzzled out electricity and magnetism. Without his discoveries, says Tyson, we might not be using electricity, watching TV and computing. Blame Faraday for Twitter and 19 Kids and Counting.
You&#039;re thinking of <i>I Sing the Body Electric</i>.
The coolest thing about magnetism is that it&#039;s a relativistic effect, the only one that you see every day. Currents in a wire produce magnetic fields, which exert a force on moving charges outside the wire. But what if you look at things from the electron&#039;s point of view? No current, therefore no magnetic field, and yet the &quot;moving charge&quot; still moves. It&#039;s the coolest thing I get to teach. No lie.
&lt; shoves glasses back up his nose &gt;