The 8 Contributions of Michael Faraday Most Important

Between the Michael Faraday's Contributions To science, and therefore to humanity, we can highlight electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis.

Michael Faraday (Newington Butt, 22 September 1791 - Hampton Court, August 25, 1867) was a physicist and chemist of British origin whose main contributions lie in the areas of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.

The 8 Contributions of Michael Faraday Most Important

Due to the economic conditions of his family, Faraday received little formal education, so from the age of fourteen he was responsible for meeting these shortcomings by doing a lot of reading during his learning as a bookbinder.

One of the books that bound and influenced the scientist most was The Improvement of the Mind (The Improvement of the Mind) by Isaac Watts.

Faraday was an excellent experimenter and conveyed his discoveries in an easy-to-understand language. Although his mathematical skills were not the best, James Clerk Maxwell summarized his work and that of others in a group of equations.

In the words of Clerk Maxwell:"(the use of lines of force) show that Faraday has actually been a great mathematician. From which the mathematicians of the future could derive valuable and fertile methods."

The unit of electrical capacity of the International System of Units (SI) is called Faradio (F) in his honor.

As a chemist, Faraday discovered benzene, did research on chlorine clathrate, the oxidation number system, and believed what would be known as the ancestor of the Bunsen burner. In addition, it popularized the terms: anode, cathode, electron and ion.

In the area of ​​physics, his research and experiments were geared to electricity and electromagnetism.

His study of the magnetic field was fundamental for the development of the concept of electromagnetic field and his invention, named by him as"Devices of electromagnetic rotation", were the precursors of the current electric motor.

Main contributions to Faraday science

1- Construction of"electromagnetic rotation"devices

After Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetism, Humphry Davy and William Hyde Wollaston tried and failed trying to design an electric motor.

So Faraday, after discussing with the two scientists about this, managed to create two devices, which gave way to produce what he called"electromagnetic rotation."

One of these devices, known today as"homopolar motor", generated a continuous circular motion, which was produced by circular magnetic force around a wire, which extended to a container of mercury with a magnet inside. By supplying current to the wire with a chemical battery, it would rotate around the magnet.

This experiment was the basis of modern electromagnetic theory. Such was Faraday's excitement after this discovery that he published the results without consulting Wollaston or Davy, which resulted in a controversy within the Royal Society and Faraday's assignment to activities other than electromagnetism.

2- Gas liquefaction and refrigeration (1823)

Based on the theory of John Dalton , Stating that all gases could be brought to a liquid state, Faraday demonstrated through an experiment the veracity of this theory, in addition to having assumed the bases with which modern refrigerators and freezers work.

By liquefying or liquefying (increasing the pressure and decreasing the temperature of the gases) of the chlorine and the ammonia in the gaseous state, Faraday was able to bring into the liquid state these substances that had been considered as"permanent gaseous state".

In addition, it was able to return the ammonia to its gaseous state, noting that during this process a cooling was generated.

This discovery showed that a mechanical pump could transform a gas into a liquid at room temperature, produce cooling on returning to its gaseous state and be compressed into liquid again.

3- Discovery of benzene (1825)

The 8 Contributions of Michael Faraday Most Important 1

Faraday discovered the molecule of benzene having isolated and identified it from an oily residue, derived from the production of gas of lighting, to which it gave the name of"Bicarburet of hydrogen".

Assuming this discovery a major achievement of chemistry, due to the practical applications of benzene.

4- Discovery of Electromagnetic Induction (1831)

The electromagnetic induction was the great discovery of Faraday, which obtained by connecting two wire solenoids around the opposite ends of an iron ring.

He connected a solenoid to a galvanometer and watched as he connected and disconnected the other from the battery.

When the solenoid was switched off and on, it could be observed that when current was passed through a solenoid, another current was temporarily induced in the other.

The cause of this induction is due to the change of magnetic flux that occurred when disconnecting and connecting the battery.

This experiment is now known as"mutual induction", which occurs when the current change in one inductor, induces a voltage in another nearby inductor. This is the mechanism by which transformers work.

5- Laws of Electrolysis (1834)

Michael Faraday was also one of the main responsible for the creation of the science of electrochemistry, the science responsible for the creation of batteries currently used by mobile devices.

While conducting research on the nature of electricity, Faraday formulated his two laws of electrolysis.

The first of these states that the amount of substance deposited at each electrode in an electrolytic cell is directly proportional to the amount of electricity passing through the cell.

The second of these laws states that the quantities of different elements deposited by a given amount of electricity are in proportion to the proportion of their chemical weight equivalent.

The mathematician James Clerk Maxwell modeled these laws in the following equation: Michael Faraday's 8 Most Important Contributions 2

6- Invention of the Faraday Cage (1836)

By one experiment, Faraday observed that the excess charge on a charged conductor resides only on the outside, and does not influence anything inside the conductor.

To prove this, he created a room covered in metallic paper and let its exterior be struck by high voltage discharges generated by an electrostatic generator.

Faraday used an electroscope to demonstrate the absence of electric current inside the room. However, the effect of Faraday's cage was made known by another experiment of his made in 1843, known as"The Experiment of the Faraday Ice Bucket".

In this experiment, Faraday introduced a metal ball charged with static electricity into an ice cube, hanging from a metal wire so that it does not touch the cuvette, while an electroscope is connected with a cable to the cuvette.

When the charged metal ball is introduced into the cuvette without touching it, the electroscope registers a charge, which means that the ball charged the cuvette by electrostatic induction.

Then an opposite current is induced to the inner surface of the cuvette, and when the ball touches the inside, the charges of both objects are canceled, demonstrating that the induced load had the same load as the inductive load of the ball.

7- Discovery of the Faraday effect (1845)

Also known as the Faraday rotation, this effect is a magnetic-optical phenomenon, which is the interaction between light and a magnetic field in a medium.

The Faraday effect causes the rotation of a plane of polarization, which is linearly proportional to the component of the magnetic field in the direction of propagation.

Faraday firmly believed that light was an electromagnetic phenomenon, and that it must therefore be affected by electromagnetic forces.

Therefore, after a series of unsuccessful trials, I proceed to test a piece of solid glass containing traces of lead, which he made in his glass-making days.

In this way he observed that when a ray of polarized light passed through the glass in the direction of a magnetic force, the polarized light rotated at an angle proportional to the magnetic field strength.

He then tested this with different solids, liquids and gases by getting stronger electromagnets.

8- Discovery of diamagnetism (1845)

Faraday discovered that all the materials had a weak repulsion towards the magnetic fields, that is to say that they create a magnetic field induced in the direction opposite to an applied magnetic field externally, being repelled by the applied magnetic field, who denominates it"diamagnetism".

He also discovered that paramagnetic materials behave in the opposite way, being attracted by an applied external magnetic field.

Faraday showed that this property (diamagnetic or paramagnetic) is present in all substances. The diamagnetism induced with extra strong magnets can be used to produce levitation.

References

  1. Michael Faraday. (2017, June 9). Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org.
  2. Michael Faraday. (2017, June 8). Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org.
  3. Benzene. (2017, June 6) Recovered from En.wikipedia.org.
  4. Liquefaction of gases. (2017, May 7) Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org.
  5. Faraday's laws of electrolysis. (2017, June 4). Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org.
  6. Faraday cage. (2017, June 8). Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org.
  7. Faraday's ice pail experiment. (2017, May 3). Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org.
  8. Faraday effect. (2017, June 8). Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org.
  9. Faraday Effect. (2017, May 10). Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org.
  10. Who is Michael Faraday? What was his discovery in the fields of science? (2015, June 6). Recovered from quora.com
  11. Michael Faraday's 10 major contributions to science. (2016, 16 December). Recovered from learnodo-newtonic.com.


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