Invention of the Leyden Jar: How a Jar of Water Shocked Thousands
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- How in the world did a glass of water shock anyone? Welcome to the crazy story of the invention of the Leyden jar: a powerful electric device that was invented by accident!
We've got electrifying hundreds of people for the King's pleasure and a bunch of masochistic (and sadistic) adrenalin junkies with some really difficult names to pronounce! Check it out!
You can find more information on the history of the Leyden Jar from:
Benjamin, P "A History of Electricity" (1898) pp. 514-536
Heilbron, J "Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries" (1979) pp. 313-320
Priestly, J "History and Present State of Electricity" (1767) pp. 84-97
Correction: Leyden is in the Netherlands not Germany. Sorry
As usual, the music in the beginning and the end is from the fabulous Kim Nalley.
ps. if you want to make your own Leyden jar it's easy, just take a bottle of water and stick a metal stick in it (I used a metal skewer). It works even better if you add some tin foil on the outside! That is it. To charge it up you can rub a tube with cloth or fur and then rub the tube against the metal stick. Or, you could do what I did and make an electricity machine with a plastic lid on a drill rubbed against rabbit fur. Remember that the outside must be grounded (connected to the ground). Have fun :P
These videos are amazing. They really show how science progresses not just via great minds like Faraday, Maxwell Einstein, but through amateurs, thrill seekers, ordinary people. I love how Kathy gives historical context, personal profiles of the scientist, and plenty of humor. She is a gifted teacher. Everybody who wants to understand how we reached this point in technology Should see these videos as required viewing..
Thank you for the lovely review, made my day. If you feel like it please recommend my videos on social media, it works so much better when it is not just me saying "hey, watch my videos"! Thanks again. Kathy
Musschenbroek with my favorite quote of the day:! "I've found out so much about electricity, that I reached the point where I understand nothing and can explain nothing!"
Living Extraordinary I love that line. Up there with Hertz who wrote (2 years before discovering radio waves) “ realized that everything I thought I had discovered was already discovered by somebody else”. But Musschenbrowk’s line is better
@@Kathy_Loves_Physics how.. ahh.. .. can i ask .. how is it beause the subject is of "historical importance" , Ie.. "as a history teacher" you are .. have a lot of latitude with what you want to teach.. I mean compared with another (like maths,) teacher; you have more latitude? is that right or?
thank ou
As far as I know the Leyden Jar is named after Leiden in the Netherlands, not Germany, ( Leyden being the contemporary spelling) where Musschenbroek was born and university educated. Musschenbroek did work in Germany but that was at the university of Duisburg before he returned to the Netherlands to work at the university of Utrecht.
This is a great video and I'm definitely sharing it with my students. Thank you for making physics history fun and interesting. One small point of correction though, Pieter van Musschenbroek was from the Dutch (not German) town of Leiden (Leyden). Since I'm teaching at an international school in the Netherlands at the moment, I had to be sure to mention that correction to my students :)
I am so sorry about that. Another person corrected me on this but I can't change a video after posting it (although I did add a card so maybe that will help). Hope your students like it and forgive me.
@@Kathy_Loves_Physics You could redeem yourself by pronouncing Leyden not as 'laiden' but as 'lyden' in the future. Y as in 'lydon' eg John Lydon.
@@gartnl Tja, zowel de ei/ij als ui zijn onbekend in Engels, Frans, Duits. Lastig als je zo'n klank wilt overbrengen.
@@iamTheSnark klopt. Lydon komt aardig dicht in de buurt. Klinkt als iemand die Leiden zegt met Engels accent ;)
I have had to retire early because of health reasons. I am reconnecting with the subject of electricity after more than 30 years. I am enjoying your videos immensely.
I’m sorry you had health issues but I’m very glad you are enjoying your retirement and enjoying my videos. Cheers, Kathy.
A common mistake is to think that Dutch means Deutsch (German). Van Musschenbroek was a Dutchman, so a citizen of the Netherlands working at the university of Leiden. It is the city I was born in. Also the city where the Pilgrim fathers stayed for a while before setting of on the Maflower. So you Americans should remember !
Nice video, but two small things to keep in mind: Leyden, Germany is in fact Leiden (or Leyden in old spelling), The Netherlands. Also, once you get electrocuted, you're dead. I don't think everyone you say who was electrocuted, was actually electrocuted.
I was wondering if someone would comment on this. Electrocution is death by electric shock. A friend of mine has a favourite intro at the beginning of his electrical safety classes: "Welcome to the electrical safety class. First up, who here in the class has been electrocuted?" and sure enough people put their hands up. :)
Absolutely excellent! In the recent past, I replaced all the Leyden Jars in one of my television cameras. The old is new again!
5:00 : Leiden is a Dutch and not a German city, and Musschenbroek is actually pronounced "Mush'n'brooke". We Dutch speaking people like to make things unpronounceable: it's one of those things that defines us, I guess. Your French is excellent, by the way! (I'm afraid I'm Belgian, so I speak both pretty well).
I really enjoy your videos! They are very informative and fun to watch. I've learned a ton watching them. Thanks!
Unfortunately Americans in generally are extremely geographically and linguistically inept and challenged.
What a fantastic series. Thank you Kathy!
So glad you liked it
I have now viewed a few of your videos. We have always learned science (physics) from a book...just the facts...no context or history mostly. Your idea of providing context and history makes physics much more interesting and insight to where we are today in the use of science and technology. Bravo! Well done! and thank you.
I’m so glad you liked it and I hope I can encourage more teachers to provide some context.
I am binging through this whole channel, what a treat. One correction: this bottle was invented in the Dutch town of Leiden. Pronounced the same, but v Musschenbroek was Dutch.
I don’t know why I got that wrong, sorry about that
Thank you very much Kathy, It was very informative
amir ghasemi glad you liked it.
So thorough and informing, the most indepth one I've seen on the subject. Please never stop, the world needs more people like you. Your passion for physics, facts, history and detail is entraining and something we should all internalize, as these things are most important to navigate our future
Guericke's experiments with the sulfur globe were published in 1672, so I consider him the father of electricity, and the most underrated scientist/inventor. If it wasn't for this simple electrostatic generator made of sulfur, nobody would come up later with the Leyden Jar, and the Volta battery later.
This is one of my favorite series I've ever seen on youtube. Thank you so much for all the effort you've put into this! :D
Wow! Really? You need to get out from under that rock!!
this video series is super great and organized. history is the best way to learn science. thanks!
Alex Peek so glad you liked it. I agree about the importance of history.
It's fun to remember that the first voltage measurement system was the degree of agony experienced by the experimenter.
The original unit for voltage was the "Expletive", number of which uttered after the experiment.
Some things should never change 😵
It reminds me of that Billy Connolly sketch where he describes a meter designed to measure pain, and how it was tested and calibrated. Google the "Stonefish" segment, LOL.
They're getting harder to find, but I had thought of collecting about 50 of the Cathode Ray Tubes from clunky old TV sets to make a 1 Million volt capacitor. Each one can easily hold 20,000 volts with very high capacitance.
I have all sorts of high voltage experiments that would be very expensive to do otherwise. It would take up a lot of room though.
Guess I'll build my lair by the lagoon 😂
Your videos are just wonderful. I can't stop watching them, one by one... You mesmerize me with a subject that I usually didn't like much, and you make me study English at the same time... Thank you !!!
I’m so glad. ❤️
Hello Kathy, i just want to thank you for your great effort sharing these videos. It is awesome and so reasonable to learn a topic with its history and you are the best at explaining this. i am so excited to watch every one of these videos. Please keep up doing these great videos. Greetings from Turkey ❤💡
Thanks.
What a great video, I'm glad I found this channel your videos are excellent.
LIPresume so glad you liked it
These are really great videos. I'm reading Kuhn for a Philosophy of Science class and your series has been a great way to catch up on some woeful gaps in my knowledge of science and its history. Thank you! :)
Glad you liked it. Have to look up Kuhn, sounds interesting
Kathy, your videos are amazing. I’ve been jumping through your channel for the last week and have loved every video you’ve put out. I very much wish my university had a History of Electricity course as part of the EE curriculum.
3:43
I love the trick played by some hotels who use synthetic fibre carpets throughout the building - you shuffle along building up charge and when you touch the brass handrail of the stairs all gets released!
Thanks a lot Kathy for such informative content!! I fell in love with it in first sight!!
Kathy, I'm binging on your videos on electricity and having a grand time. Thank you for putting all this information together! Love it!
I read an accurate account of Franklin's kite experiment. It led me to Leyden jars. Gonna check out your whole series. Well done :D
I searched for the origins of the capacitor everywhere, this was the only place i found it. thank you soooo much!!!!! this really cleared my concepts
Glad you liked it
5:09 "Electrocute" means to kill with electricity. If it doesn't kill, it's just an electric shock.
Leyden, Germany? I don't think so. Leyden (Leiden) is a city in the Netherlands. Musschenbroek was a Dutchman. (at the university of Leiden, in the Netherlands). As a Belgian I have to state: "Do NOT underestimate the Dutch) ;-)
First of all I want to thank you for sharing your amazing video's with the world. I enjoy them very much! I love how you explain how some words we still use today related to electricity came into existence. Induction (to induce) was my favourite one, yet!
At the 4:08 point you mention that Van Musschenbroeck is from Leiden, Germany. The town of Leiden is in The Netherlands, not Germany. Van Muschenbroeck is Dutch, not Deutsch :-) . The most famous Dutch person from Leiden is...Rembrandt!
IbraHimself so glad you liked the video and I am so sorry to have misplaced the town of Leiden. I wish I could redo this video but I would lose all the views. Sorry again especially to any viewers from the Netherlands 🇳🇱
Leiden (Leyden) is in the Netherlands. Thank you for the enlighting videos, though!
Sorry about getting the country wrong I feel really bad about that. Glad you still like the video
This is great! I feel like a lot of RUclipsrs are following this pattern of experimentation today. Ironically I think they had a better network with their reputations and letter writing than we do today.
I have a few off the wall theories and pushing for evidence and experimentation in the community of ancient technology.
I beleive the Egyptians KNEW what they were doing when they were alternating Glass and Gold.
We now have solid state capacitors.
Good presentations.
Franklin didn't "discover" electricity. We knew about it but just didn't understand it at the time. What Franklin did do was study it, learned where it came from, and figured out how to control it enough to eliminate lightning strikes from damaging buildings. Another big surprise, he did not fly that kite in a rainstorm. He flew it before an approaching storm to prove that electricity came from the air and that he could collect and guide it.
I heard he was quite electric with the ladies in France too - probably America too.
Would have been justified in naming his boudoir ...
Electric Ladyland
no need to show me the door,
I'll see myself out
So happy to have found and subscribed to your channel!
Wounderful stuff, but Leiden is in Holland, not Germany.
Someone else pointed that out and I feel so foolish, sorry about that. I wish I could edit videos after the fact.
Leyden is the city of Leiden in The Netherlands, in Dutch the flask is called ‘Leidseplein fles’.
That's really cool. I've known about Leyden jars for a long time, but it turns out that I actually knew NOTHING about Leyden jars.
Now I think the ‘Bagdad Battery’ was an early Leyden Jar.
Love this series of videos. Thank you. X
You know that you're the new James Burke, don't you? Just like "Connections". Thank you for this wonderful channel!
I love James Burke and am honored by this comparison. Thank you
Thanks, I was looking for an explanation on this topic, this was well worth watching.
Interesting that the Leyden Jar is called that. We call it "de Leidse Fles", the Bottle from Leiden. Much more of a bottle than a jar. (cue Captain Reynolds from Casablanca, "I'm shocked! Shocked...!")
My favorite possession as a kid was a small VandeGraaf generator, shamelessly marketed as an Atom Smasher by Lafayette Electronics. On a crisp day, it could throw a 2-inch spark, hitting my hand with a sharp but mild snap.
I can't remember where I read about Leyden jars,
... but I made one, which condensed the harmless 2-inch spark to a quarter of an inch, projecting a painful jolt to my hand and, one time, to my cat's nose, prompting Schnitzel to temporarily revise her opinion of me.
When I was at school in 1981, our school textbooks gave us enough history of physics for us to understand how people came to understand these ideas. Some part of the process by which the scientists arrived at their conclusions was given to us, without which the textbooks would be mere information, not knowledge. But I find that the present day school textbooks in my country are cursory and in a great hurry to convey the information and move on. I recently volunteered to make a set of video lessons in the local language, and finding their textbooks lacking the proper sequence of historical development, I am trying to connect the dots myself. Encyclopedia Brittanica is a good source. apart gthat, could you suggest any other good reference?
Strangely enough, I like looking at Wikipedia. Not that I trust everything in it but Wikipedia gives a good outline of how things happened with links and then you can go to the original source from that so you can validate what was true and what was misstated. Also, if you have any interest in using any parts of my video or in translating any parts of my video to any other language I give permission and I would be delighted. (my contact information is in the about me page)
Hey! Doing a little lecture about defibrillators and elektrocardioversion and just saw your clip, thank you for explaining the Leyden jar visually, I really liked it a lot!
Glad I could help. Sounds like a fascinating lecture. By the way, you might want to check out my video on Galvani and the one on Galvani's nephew Aldini as Galvani discovered that electricity could make dead animals jump and came up with an electrical theory of biology and Aldini was the first to use a battery to try to reanimate the dead way back in 1802 (although he used bodies of criminals so they were hung so a defibrillator wouldn't have worked even if his equipment had been powerful which it wasn't). Amazingly, he did get the body to move and even open an eye! Fascinating but a little gross IMHO.
@@Kathy_Loves_Physics Makes one cogitate on how Eygore was so devoted to Doctor Frankenshteen. Svitch on der elektrichity, Eyegore!
dear Kathy, I have to correct you Pieter van Musschenbroek was Dutch and lived in Leiden.... holland not in Germany.... hence it is called Leyden jar een Leidsche flesch in old Dutch or Leidse fles in modernday Dutch. greetings from Holland; the Netherlands. ps i like your vis, very educational...
I loved these videos so much I bought the book, “The Lightening Tamers”
Very nice, except, Leyden neither professor van Musschenbroek were German, but Dutch. Dutch is used for the
people or the language of Holland (The Netherlands). Leiden (or Leyden as it was spelled in the past) is a city in Zuid-Holland, one of the provinces in th Netherlandswith one of the most famous universities in the country. Maybe because Dutch and Deutch (for German) look more or less the same caused the misunderstanding.
Leyden = Leiden in the Netherlands, not In Germany. Just a minor detail in this wonderful story.
I am so sorry I made that mistake I don’t know why I got it confused. Wish I could edit videos after I posted them
Thanks very much for your work Kathy. How did you not get a shock when you discharged your Leyden jar?
So if you just touch one part of it you don’t make a complete circuit and you won’t get shocked however, I did get shocked occasionally when part of my hand got too close to the other side and a spark completed the circuit. It wasn’t that big a deal, I’ve had worse and dry days when I lived in Utah.
Modern knowledge about electricity cast doubt on the mechanism you described for storing charge in a capacitor. There are very interesting experiments when a charged flat capacitor is disassembled and then assembled with the replacement of some parts. Some of these experiments baffle even highly literate people. For example, this was done by physics teachers who run the RUclips channel GetAClass in series of videos "Where a charge stored in capasitor".
Amazing informatic , intereresting and very well excuted video
I just discover your channel today. I can say this deserves more subs. btw I'm subscribing now!
Thanks, I have a lot of videos on a ton of topics so feel free to fall down some rabbit holes
Thanks for making this!
Hi, Kathy! The videos are amazing and I've been learning a lot through them. Therefore, is it possible for you to share your sources with us? I do want to mention the historic part in my scientific paper and I would like to read the articles or books you had got :) Thanks a lot !!!
I am so glad you liked them. You can find more information on the history of the Leyden Jar from:
Benjamin, P "A History of electricity" (1898) pp. 514-536
Heilbron, J "Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries" (1979) pp. 313-320
Priestly, J "History and Present State of Electricity" (1767) pp. 84-97
Also, feel free to email me (in the about page) with any questions and I will try my best to help out. Good luck on your paper.
Great video Kathy. :)
Your explaination is amazing !!!
Thanks
Love your videos!
Wish you were my teacher I love this channel
This was great!
Great videos! However, please note that Pieter van Musschenbroek was Dutch and Leiden (Leyden) was/is in the Netherlands
I played with leyden jars when I was a kid!
All the greats did.
1:12 some things never change, Kathy. 🙂
I love this series!
Because it make you happy I hit the like button ⚡🧲🤣.
Your fun and informative videos are very entertaining. Wish school was as fun as you make learning.
Ewald Georg was one of Prussia's von Kleist family.
The von Kleists include military men (quite a number of field marshals), literary men, and philosophers. At times the same von Kleist is all three.
During the Nazi Era two von Kleists were closely involved in the Hitler assassination plot and one paid the price.
Another field Marshall von Kleist was notably humane towards during WWII's Russian campaign. He was a humanist. After the war the Russians wanted him turned over for alienating Russians from Russia by being such a nice guy. Only the Russians could dream up such horrors. Said von Kleist died in Russia.
I think you forgot something between "towards" and "during" in the last paragraph.
@@GRosa On the ball! Missing word is 'Russians'
It sounds like They were doing Thier version of Us sticking 9V batteries on Our tongues...😅...although quite a bit more intense!!
Leyden is a city in Netherlands; not Germany.
Leyden is not in Germany, it's a dutch city between Rotterdam and Amsterdam
Can you put a Link to the Next Video please 🙏
Reminds me of the Bagdad batteries.
Try as I might, most things involving electricity seem to elude me. It just doesn’t stick.
Kathy, I appreciate your job. In this episode one thing is intriguing - the alcohol. If it was to burn, it should had been distilated. Such alcohol is not an electrolite, I suppose. So how did the capacitor work? Do you know any details about that alcohol?
Alcohol and water make an azeotropic mixture. You can’t remove all the water from it just by distillation.
You would probably need a distilled spirit, e.g. vodka, which has a higher concentration of alcohol. I doubt it will work with something like beer. The water in the liquor (see previous reply) acts as a conductor (easily ionized) and shorts the circuit. Think of a flambé or saganaki at a Greek restaurant.
The liquid in the capacitor is still only water which is also acting as a conductor which helps to distribute the negative charge over the inside wall of the jar.
I would add a bit of salt to the water in the jar to improve its conductivity. Would you agree?
What! I was sure you were going to explain how to make one of these! :-D
Get a jar of salt water. Put a nail in it. Ta da.
@@Kathy_Loves_Physics HAHAHA! I guess I didn't think it was as simple as what my eyes were telling me. Thanks! :)
Leiden (misspelled as Leyden) is a city in the Netherlands not Germany. And I love your video's. Can you give some information on scientific background?
I’m really sorry about that mistake and I think I made it in 2 videos for some weird reason. Sorry.
I wrote about my background on my Patreon page and you don’t have to pay for it to read the post:
www.patreon.com/posts/60904853
@@Kathy_Loves_Physics I think both are correct/acceptable since Leyden is an older spelling of Leiden.
adrenalin junkies... and the days of the Ether Frolics..
Next time I go to my barber I'm going to ask him if he can hook me up with a "Musschenbroek"
Oy vey
Mussehenbroek bears an uncanny resemblance to J S Bach. But with a sense of humour.
Your great good job
Then later comes Edison, Tesla, Maxwell, and others who improved our understanding of electricity all the way down to the proton and electron. In college physics today you learn how to solve the Maxwell equations...
At minute 7:54, did she actually say "... Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity."? Interesting.
That's American scientific history for you!
@@vk2ig Yes. Ever since the start of Federal Aid to Education, the quality of K-12 education has been slowly spiraling downward. By the late 1990's my son's High Scholl physics book had already been dumbed down to an alarming extent. And, to make matters worse, they had stopped teaching it in metric. What a colossal missed opportunity.
Mussenbrock, I feel the same way about Quantum mechanics.
🤣 who doesn’t?
Here something odd: water has a relative dielectric constant of about 81. Mica is only 4 and the other dielectric materials are about this range.
So why water not used in the making of capacitors? 🤔
You turn the water into a gel very easily to, so that makes it easier to work with. I used these silica crystals that I bought. They're food safe too.
You'd need distilled water. And it wouldn't be able to react with anything (e.g. the material in the plates of the capacitor), as otherwise it would form an ionic solution where the ions can easily move and thus conduct electricity. Transformer oil is used in some capacitors - it doesn't react with the plate material.
@@vk2ig thanks.👍 I forgot about oil. I wonder what the dielectric constant of oil is? 🤔
You also reminded me that water dissolves almost everything over time.👍👍 It might start off pure water, but it won't take long before it isn't so pure anymore. Maybe stainless steel would work? 🤔
Leyden is in Nederland .
I have a 240vac fan motor that runs full strength on just one of the two phases, i.e., it runs on 120 vac. How can this be. What am I missing here.
And I used to think that I understood basic home electrical wiring. I can really sympathize with Musschenbroek.
Ask yourself the question another way: "Why wouldn't a 240 VAC fan motor run on 120 VAC?"
@@vk2ig
Normally it would only run extremely slowly, I believe.
Leyden=Leiden, a city in The Netherlands, not germany.
Minor nit: usually the term "electrocuted" is reserved for fatal shocks.
👍 nice
Glad you liked it
How do you make that *van de graaff generator* please explain
Will make a video on it as it was super easy and worked well but here you go: Took the lid from a 5 gallon bucket, drilled a hole in the center, secured a screw in the hole with bolts and washers. Used the same screwdriver to spin the lid while rubbing it with rabbit fur (although I think wool will work). Then, stood on a plastic stand and held a large aluminum disposable cooking pan on the lid. Presto chango, a $6 Van de Graaff! Hope that helps, tell me if you had any problems or how it worked.
@@Kathy_Loves_Physics I think it is very easy and work as well. I will try to make one👍
Deep Das tell me how it goes. Good luck 👍
Yes, really it works great! 😊
Deep Das that is fantastic. Yeah!!
I wonder if those science experiments can also be done with rats. I mean with rats as the scientists who deliberately give themselves electrical shocks!
Masochistic adrenaline junkies?
Seems like not a lot has changed...
Kathy,
This is too late for this video but it's Andreas Cuneus not Cuneaus. (Eau triphthong is French not German as my last name attests to.)
Capacitance must be Musshenbroek not farad .
How did Jean Antoine Nollet produced a light from iron bar?
tufan irfan I’m not sure what you are asking. Nollet produced a spark.
There was an article about it. By friction sphere and iron produces light it was french language I think it is an elctrphorus www.badoemart.it/uk/auction-0006/electricity-nollet-jean-antoine-saggio-intorn-2202.asp#images-1 .some of images here.And also I m interested in Edward Farrow gravity reduction 'Condensing Dynamo' Have you ever heard about it ? I m trying to understand it will you help me?
How tall are you?