Faraday Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom

This is Absolute Genius.

So sit down, buckle up and get ready for take-off!

Each show, we'll introduce you to a different genius,

an amazing person who had a genius idea which shaped the world.

And they will inspire us

to come up with our own genius idea at the end of each show.

-But will it be any good?

-Will it be any good?

It'll be Absolute Genius!

'And on today's show...'

-He's nearly there.

-'You'll be struck by the brilliance of one man.'

'An absolute genius whose powerful ideas changed the world.'

Prepare to be shocked!

Today, we're going to introduce to you a real bright spark.

Yeah, a genius who helped us understand electricity.

Without him, this show might have looked like this.

No, don't do that!

TUMBLING, SHOUTING

-Oh!

-Ow!

-Ooh!

-Aah!

THUDDING, SMASHING

-Did you enjoy that?

-Yeah. Yeah, I did.

Our whole world is alive with electricity.

If it hadn't been for today's genius and other pioneers like him,

we might never have understood its amazing possibilities.

Life would have been lit by candles.

Very dark. And very boring.

So who is today's genius?

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...

Michael Faraday!

-You all right?

-All right, duck.

Later on in the show, we'll be coming up with our own genius idea

when we put one of Faraday's discoveries to the test

with three-quarters of a million volts of electricity.

'Enough to stun Dick into silence.'

'For a bit!'

But first, let's find out more about the man himself.

Faraday was fascinated by electricity,

but what is it?

Electricity is a form of energy.

We depend on it for just about everything

from lighting up our homes to powering our TVS.

But more than 200 years ago, when Faraday was young,

none of these things existed.

Scientists were only just beginning

to unlock the incredible potential of electricity.

Faraday was intrigued.

But only rich and posh sorts got to be scientists,

and Faraday was neither.

But what he did have was access to loads of science books

because, when he was 14, Faraday was a bookbinder's apprentice.

He used to read about other people's experiments

and then decided he wanted to do his own.

-Come on, then.

-Yeah.

Oh, dear...

So he came to the Royal Institution, the home of scientific research...

Don't touch it!

'..and persuaded them to give him a job as a lab assistant.

'Here, he made some of his greatest discoveries.

'You can almost smell the genius in the air!'

Can you smell a genius?

Faraday started experimenting with electricity, magnets and wire.

He invented the first electric motor,

a way of turning electricity into movement.

Modern-day motors are used in everything

from hairdryers to washing machines.

Look at that. This is actually Faraday's lab.

This is where he made all of his discoveries about electricity.

All the little jars and glass vials,

they all still have his writing all over them

and under that table, still got his chewing gum under there.

Well, I've got to put it somewhere!

Faraday's genius idea was to work out

the powerful relationship

between magnets and electricity.

Faraday found out you can use magnets to make electricity.

All you have to do

is move a magnet near a wire to get the electricity flowing and...

bingo!

By now, Faraday was becoming just a little bit famous.

His lectures at the Royal Institution

were the hottest ticket in town.

He loved an audience, and they loved him!

So this is the room

where Faraday used to perform all his experiments.

On this very spot, he used to show all the normos,

you know, the normal people, his experiments

and try to get them really enthusiastic and excited about it.

Seriously, it was like some kind of magic show back in the day.

Let's try it. Yeah?

Put it away. There's work to be done.

'To understand more about electricity,

'we're going to make our own, just like Faraday,

'then demonstrate it in front of an audience.'

We're Faradays in the making

To show us how, here's genius helper Olympia Brown,

who's in charge of Science Learning at the Royal Institution.

What was he like as a person?

Reports of people who knew him and worked here at the Royal Institution

say that he was a really nice guy

but he was absolutely fascinating when you heard him talk.

He had this amazing force of personality and amazing character

that just kept people entranced with what he was saying.

He became a bit of a celebrity in his day.

So back in those days, it wasn't someone who was on Big Brother,

it wasn't someone in OK Magazine,

it was people that had a big brain in their head

and could relate to people, they were the celebrities.

Yes, scientists were the celebrities of their day.

But we want to learn the basics of electricity

so have you anything we can...?

Absolutely. We've made a small Faraday generator.

Here we've got a coil of wire around this tube. Inside the tube,

we've got some very strong magnets

and here we've got a light.

There aren't any batteries in that, as you can see,

so you'd think that light wouldn't work,

but if I just do a simple bit of shaking...

Look at that! So how is that working?

As the magnets move through the coil of wire, it's causing

electricity to run through the wire and light up the lights.

So why was this discovery so important?

In fact, this exact same thing,

a magnet moving through a coil of wire,

is used in gas power stations, coal power stations,

even wind turbines, to generate the electricity that we all use.

Quite easy to make?

Yeah, in fact, you guys are going to do it yourselves.

I'll give you instructions. The stuff's behind you.

-I'm going to leave you to it.

-Like being back at school!

'We've got one hour to prepare

'before recreating Faraday's experiment in front of an audience.

-'Olympia - any tips?'

-Ah!

I think you need a passion for science

-to be a good science demonstrator.

-Don't snip it.

Stop.

HE SNIPS No!

'Just like Faraday,

'we intend to pull off a perfectly polished performance.'

It's about moving a magnet through a coil of wire to create electricity.

-You're making electricity!

-I am!

But can we do it again, on our own, in front of an audience?

They can be quite a challenging audience, actually.

Oh, Faraday. Wish us luck.

APPLAUSE

-All right?

-Hey!

We're going to make a generator.

-First, we have some copper wire.

-It is a conductor of electricity,

which means electricity passes right the way through it.

We've got to get this copper wire onto this tube.

We'll make it easier using this electric drill.

Don't go around grabbing your dad's drill at home.

Stuff it in.

-See that?

-Then we can speed it up.

-So, top speed! Nnnn!

-Stop!

It's in the middle! Oh, you plank.

-'We've got them in the palm of our hands.'

-Next!

-Two seconds. I've just got to, er, sneeze.

-'We've forgotten something.'

Two seconds.

'Luckily, no-one's noticed.'

-He's just going to wipe his nose.

-Go away, go away!

-You sandpaper the ends.

-Oh, yes, that's right.

Now what we need are the magnets. These aren't any old magnets.

These are very strong, look, because they've got hold of the screwdriver

and the scissors.

So we're going to put the magnets inside there

and then secure them with a bung on one end

and a bung on the other end,

and then we're going to hook this piece of copper wire

into the back of the battery unit.

Right, here we are. This is the moment of truth.

OK, are we ready? We want a countdown

and we're going to see what happens.

-ALL:

-Three, two, one...

He's going to shake it!

-Yeah, look at that!

-Impressive.

That's exactly how Faraday put it

when he stood here about 200 years ago.

Thank you.

So this is the point that you get to ask any questions.

WIND BLOWS

Boys, time to go.

And, while we go in search of more of Faraday's genius,

here are some facts you might not know about electricity.

The genius top five.

At five - electric eels produce strong electric shocks

of around 500 volts that they use for hunting and self-defence.

Four - from cloud to Earth,

a lightning strike can be around six miles long.

At three - Simon Cowell runs entirely on batteries.

Only joking, we just made that up!

Ha ha(!)

Two - you can get a static shock from just walking on a carpet.

Charge from the floor goes onto your feet and stores up in your body

until it can escape - often leaving you with a painful shock! Ouch!

And one - electricity can travel at around 186,000 miles a second!

Yep, that's even faster than Usain Bolt!

'Using electricity,

'we're going to perform our own shocking experiment later.

'But first, research.'

Thanks to Faraday's generator,

electricity can be made on a massive scale,

so we can all have it in our homes.

It's transported by miles of cables

connected up with pylons and substations.

The people who look after the network

often have to work with high voltage electricity,

high enough to cause a deadly shock.

That's a lot of volts. We're here at the National Grid.

-If anyone knows about electricity, these people do.

-We don't.

It says here, "No entry without authority"

and you are no authority at all.

Luckily, we know a man that is -

genius helper Matt Murphy,

who's worked for the National Grid for 13 years.

-All right?

-Yeah.

Now, people see these kind of get-ups all over the countryside.

-You always hear a humming noise of the electricity.

-Zzz.

-That's good.

-But you can't hear one here.

-There's a reason for that.

This is Eakring, which is National Grid's main training centre.

This is a substation but it's not actually live,

-so we can train people safely.

-Oh, right. OK.

-Can we go in, then?

-Yeah, no problem.

Remember, if you see one of these near your home, don't go in it.

-All right?

-Right?

Faraday's discoveries mean

it's possible to have a constant supply of electricity.

And so that we never go without it,

linemen and women carry out essential repairs at scary heights

as Dom is about to demonstrate!

Look at these lads up here. That's what you're going to be doing.

-What are you talking about? I'm not going up there.

-You are.

There is no chance... Am I going up there?

-You are.

-Is this live, that pylon?

-No, that's not live.

-When you see the people going up,

-you can start realising how big it is, don't you?

-Yeah, yeah.

You can see they're tiny.

My heart's actually going like the clappers,

just watching those lads up there.

The pylon Dom's working on is a scary 50 metres high.

It's that one there.

This one in front of us?

Is that how high I'm going - right up to that top?

But on the upside, at least the power's switched off.

Electricity is so dangerous,

linemen and women never work on live lines unless they absolutely have to.

All right, Dom, what we need you to do today

is change a step bolt.

Now, a step bolt

is how we climb the tower.

With the assistance of one of our instructors,

I need you to go up there and change that damaged bolt.

How do you feel about that?

-Come on, mate.

-Off we go.

Come back, Dom!

And while we drag Dom out of hiding,

here's a shocking tale about the dangers of electricity.

It's the Not So Genius Idea.

American inventor Benjamin Franklin

famously proved lightning is a form of electricity.

But not all of his experiments went to plan.

In 1750, he tried to electrocute a turkey for dinner

to make the meat more tender

but ended up running a massive electrical current

through his own body.

He was lucky to survive!

So there you have it.

A not-so-genius way to make your dinner!

We're not sure who was more shocked - him or the turkey!

-Not going to be unsafe at all, is it?

-No, no.

If you lose your footing, this is holding you.

-Look at that size of that karabiner.

-Are you being of any help at all?

You're just hanging around like a bad smell.

-I'm just giving you confidence.

-You're not giving me anything!

Come on, then, you big...

electrical metally freak!

I'll have you!

I'll sit on you!

There he goes. Go on, lad!

The winds are really picking up the higher I get.

-How's he doing?

-He's not doing too bad.

-Totally terrified.

Whatever you do, don't look down.

-Right.

-How was it?

I lost my confidence halfway up

and then I just stopped for a minute, regrouped and back up again.

Now I'm here, I'm OK.

'Changing a bolt is a fiddly job

'especially when you're 15 metres up a windy pylon.'

So what we're going to do is undo that nut.

You got it?

Whatever you do, don't lose that washer!

Cheers.

'It is vital to keep the National Grid working

'because without electricity, the country would grind to a halt.'

-OK, that's nice and tight.

-Yeah, that will do, superb.

-Now we're up here...

-Yeah?

-What do you think about going further up?

-No problem.

You sure you want to do this?

'Overhead lineworkers must be prepared to work at all heights

-'to carry out repairs.'

-Use your legs.

He's only got little legs, poor lad.

The wind is something else.

Don't think about it, think about Faraday.

-Faraday, Faraday.

-He's nearly there.

Faraday...

Oh, yeah, I did it!

I wouldn't speak too soon, mate. You've still got to come down again.

Right, then. Now, this is the bit that I'm dreading, actually,

which I think is going to be the difficult bit,

because you can see where you're going on the way up.

On the way down, you can't.

Oh...

He's almost there

when THIS happens.

And THAT's what the safety harness is for!

Keep concentrating.

Dominic Wood, ladies and gentlemen!

Awooga!

You wouldn't catch me up there.

-Put the kettle on. I'm parched.

-Well done, mate. Well done.

But sometimes repairs have to be carried out on live lines

carrying dangerous electricity.

That's where Faraday's genius strikes again!

He discovered people can be shielded from its harmful effects

by a metal screen, known as a Faraday cage.

Live line workers wear a type of Faraday cage

as their suit contains metal thread.

CRACKLING

But how does it work?

Let's find out from our very own genius scientist, Fran.

She loves a good experiment to explain how things work.

Step back a bit lower.

'And she's guaranteed to pop up round the corner

'just when you need her most.'

-Ah!

-Hello!

Yeah, the linesmen gave us this

because they said if Dom had gone up the pylon when it was live,

-he'd have to wear one of these suits.

-It's like a giant babygro, isn't it?

Also known as a Faraday cage.

It's nothing like a cage. What are you talking about?

-It works on the same principles as a Faraday cage.

-Explain.

To know how a Faraday cage works,

you guys might need to know a bit more about electricity first.

We do. We were probably taught it at school but to be honest,

-totally forgotten.

-It's gone.

All electricity is, is the movement of things that have got charge

and these charges come in two different flavours, or types,

and you can get positive and negative charge.

These positive and negative charges, they can interact

and play with each other, and they can make certain things happen.

-Let me show you.

-Experiment time.

Over here, I have a machine

and it's going to make each and every one of these pie dishes

get a negative charge

and if things have the same charge as each other,

than they want to move apart, to move away from each other,

-they want to repel.

-Like magnets.

-A bit like magnets.

South and north of a magnet goes together,

-but when you have ones of the same, they move apart.

-Yep.

-OK, got it.

-So if you want to turn the machine on, Dom.

-It's not going to hurt?

-No, well...

Because I don't like that, so...

MACHINE HUMS

Oi, oi! Look at that!

They've all got the same charge, so they're moving away

-and repelling each other!

-That's brilliant!

So, they all had a negative charge and wanted to move apart,

but when things have a different charge,

they want to move towards each other.

So if we put something with a positive charge

near my negatively charged dome,

the charge would want to move towards it.

-So that's negative. You want something that's positive.

-Yes.

He's positive. A positive guinea pig.

So I'd like you to put your finger near the dome.

-Listen, I've just been up a pylon, all right?

-You love it.

I'm going to switch this on

and you'll put your finger near the negatively charged dome.

Don't forget, electricity is just the movement of charge

so when we see that charge moving towards your finger

-we might see a little electric spark.

-Good, that's nice.

-Your hair won't look any different.

-Eh?

-So just...

-He loves it.

Just pop your finger near it.

I can't! I can hear it crackling!

Come on, you do it!

OK, OK, OK.

So if I hold my finger near it...

-It is quite scary, isn't it?

-I can hear it. It's buzzing.

DOME CRACKLES

-A bit closer!

-Rubbish!

-Bit closer!

Oh, baby!

-DOME CRACKLES

-Ah!

'So what Fran's saying is that opposites attract.

'Positive and negative charges are drawn to each other,

'which creates that spark.'

Now, in terms of explaining a Faraday suit, what happens is,

if you apply electricity, which is a charge,

onto the outside of the suit,

all the negative and positive charges in the material of the suit

jiggle around in such a way

that they end up cancelling themselves out on the inside,

so inside the suit, you end up with no charge.

So, the linemen's suit is a Faraday cage

containing positive and negative charges -

positives, which are drawn to the electricity from the power lines

and negatives, which are repelled in the opposite direction.

In all the kerfuffle, they cancel each other out!

The inside of the Faraday cage becomes a charge-free zone! Genius!

So, just to recap,

when you're inside, cos there's no charge, you're fine, you're safe.

On the outside, thousands of volts of electricity.

-Yep, hundreds of thousands of volts.

-Hundreds of thousands, even better!

That sounds like the ideal place for you.

'We've learned all about Faraday's amazing discoveries...'

-You're making electricity!

-I am!

From generating electricity

to helping protect people doing one of the scariest jobs in the world.

And now we've come up with our own genius idea,

inspired by...

..the Faraday cage!

We've tracked one down in the English county of Gloucestershire.

Gloucestershire? I love Gloucestershire!

Home of cheese rolling, and the Gloucestershire Old Spot pig!

And the UK's leading high voltage special effects company!

So, here's the plan.

Now, we're going to put Faraday's cage to the test

using just under one million volts of electricity.

It's going to be absolutely genius, and I cannot wait.

Our genius idea -

to test Faraday's cage to the limit with a human volunteer - Dick.

Our challenge - to see how well it protects him

from almost a million volts of electricity

Our problem - if Faraday is wrong...

Let's not even go there.

Here it is. The stage for our very own shocking challenge.

We've got a Faraday cage and a lightning machine,

ready to generate some serious high volts of electricity.

Be warned. What we're about to do could blow your mind!

Electricity is dangerous stuff,

so we've brought in a qualified genius helper.

It's Mark Turner, master of high voltage special effects.

-It just looks wrong, really, does not?

-It does.

Now, this is the big genius idea. This is the Faraday cage.

But I've got to say,

it looks very different to the lovely, cuddly romper suit

that Fran showed us earlier. It kind of looks like...

-An iron maiden?

-An iron maiden.

Somewhere someone would go to die in the mediaeval ages.

Its nickname is the Cage of Death.

-Ha-ha-ha! Cage of Death?

-Yeah.

-You might laugh.

-Are you all right?

-No, I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable, to be honest.

-Genuinely?

This actually looks even more scary. Look at the size of it.

This is the control panel, so we have a safety key,

a number of dials, so we can alter the amount of voltage you receive.

-So what's going to happen?

-I'd like to put your friend in there

and then we're going to turn up the power very slowly

to 750,000 volts.

And the lightning you'll see coming at you,

and it'll be dancing around your head, around the suit,

and you'll be able to experience Faraday's principle.

-Would you like to see it working? Would that help?

-Yeah.

I wouldn't mind seeing it work before I decide...

-What do you mean "if you decide"?

-Before I go in!

'Mark's using a machine called a Tesla Coil

'to generate the electricity.'

ELECTRICITY BUZZES

On the head!

BOTH LAUGH

It was so funny. It's just going towards your head and that's it.

Let me ask some questions.

What does it feel like in there?

-You won't feel anything.

-Right.

Is there any documentation in the history of this experiment

that has ever gone wrong?

-One person's died in America two years ago.

-Why? What happened?

He put something outside of the suit.

If you're in the suit, you're safe.

-Would you do it? Hmm?

-No.

Go on. No, not go on. I didn't mean that. I mean, it's up to you.

-But what...?

-It's up to you.

What will I feel like, then, in here?

-You'll feel nothing.

-At all?

-Nothing at all.

-You'll possibly smell something.

-Like what?

Your own trouser juice!

THEY LAUGH

All right, ladies and gentlemen, we give you the Faraday cage.

'I'm putting all my trust in Faraday's genius discovery.

'Faraday, don't let me down!'

'The nickname is the Cage of Death.'

LAUGH ECHOES

Tesla coming on.

ELECTRICITY BUZZES

'It's working! All those positive and negative charges

'rushing around the metal of the cage

'are actually cancelling each other out.

'No nasty shocks for Dick after all!'

-All right?

-Yeah.

-Can't feel a thing?

-No. It smells really weird.

Do you want it more?

-No.

-No?

-No more.

I'm shaking! I'm shaking!

I'm not surprised.

You feeling all right?

It's the weirdest feeling ever.

Could you see it out the corner of your eye?

No, cos when it went to the big one, I closed my eyes.

I just couldn't look any more. But the noise is so loud in there.

Could you not feel it hitting the cage?

Oh, yeah, you can feel it this side, it's just shaking around.

Wait till you watch it back.

It was insane, this massive bolt of blue.

The strangest part is the smell.

The smell of copper just gets really strong.

That's not, that's not copper.

THEY LAUGH

Whatever you do, don't look down.

'We've seen Faraday's genius in action -

'from his early discoveries about how to generate electricity'

to his genius protective cage that keeps live line workers safe.

And we've tested Faraday's cage to the limit

with three quarters of a million volts of electricity!

Ten minutes and a cup of tea later, how are you feeling?

Feel OK now. Really pleased I did it, but I can truly say

that's one of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had in my life

but it does prove that Faraday's discoveries were genius.

That's very kind.

Michael Faraday, you are an absolute genius.

Come on, it's late. Hey, turn off the lights, will you?

Not that one!

Bogeys!

It went right through me!

-Don't wobble it!

-I'm not doing anything!

-Just stand still, then!

Oi, oi!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd