Michael Faraday Information

Michael Faraday was a British scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis.

He popularised terminology such as “anode”, “cathode”, “electrode” and “ion”.

Faraday was an excellent experimentalist who conveyed his ideas in clear and simple language. His mathematical abilities, however, did not extend as far as trigonometry but limited to the simplest algebra. The SI unit of capacitance is named in his honour: the farad.

Michael Faraday Inventions

Faraday established the basis for the concept of the electromagnetic field in physics. Faraday also established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena.

He similarly discovered the principles of electromagnetic induction and diamagnetism, and the laws of electrolysis.

His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology. It was largely due to his efforts that electricity became practical for use in technology.

Michael Faraday Biography

Michael Faraday was born on 22 September 1791 in Newington Butts, which is now part of the London Borough of Southwark but was then a suburban part of Surrey.

The young Michael Faraday, who was the third of four children, having only the most basic school education, had to educate himself.

At the age of 14 he became an apprentice to George Riebau, a local bookbinder and bookseller in Blandford Street.

During his seven-year apprenticeship Faraday read many books, including Isaac Watts’s The Improvement of the Mind. He enthusiastically implemented the principles and suggestions contained therein.

In 1812, at the age of 20 and at the end of his apprenticeship, Faraday attended lectures by the eminent English chemist Humphry Davy of the Royal Institution and the Royal Society, and John Tatum, founder of the City Philosophical Society.

Michael Faraday Discovery

It was by his research on the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a direct current that Faraday established the basis for the concept of the electromagnetic field in physics.

Faraday also established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena.

He similarly discovered the principles of electromagnetic induction and diamagnetism, and the laws of electrolysis.

His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology. It was largely due to his efforts that electricity became practical for use in technology.

As a chemist, Faraday discovered benzene, investigated the clathrate hydrate of chlorine, invented an early form of the Bunsen burner and the system of oxidation numbers, and popularised terminology such as “anode”, “cathode”, “electrode” and “ion”.

Faraday ultimately became the first and foremost Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, a lifetime position.

Michael Faraday Quotes

There’s nothing quite as frightening as someone who knows they are right.

A man who is certain he is right is almost sure to be wrong.

I can at any moment convert my time into money, but I do not require more of the latter than is sufficient for necessary purposes.

All are sure in their days except the most wise … He is the wisest philosopher who holds his theory with some doubt.

Michael Faraday Books

Experimental Researches in Electricity by Michael Faraday

The Chemical History of a Candle – A Course of Lectures Delivered by Michael Faraday by Michael Faraday

The Forces of Matter (Dover Books on Physics) by Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday Education

He had only the most basic school education, had to educate himself.

At the age of 14 he became an apprentice to George Riebau, a local bookbinder and bookseller in Blandford Street.

During his seven-year apprenticeship Faraday read many books, including Isaac Watts’s The Improvement of the Mind, and he enthusiastically implemented the principles and suggestions contained therein.

He also developed an interest in science, especially in electricity. Faraday was particularly inspired by the book Conversations on Chemistry by Jane Marcet.

In 1812, at the age of 20 and at the end of his apprenticeship, Faraday attended lectures by the eminent English chemist Humphry Davy of the Royal Institution and the Royal Society, and John Tatum, founder of the City Philosophical Society.

In 1813, when English chemist Humphry Davy damaged his eyesight in an accident with nitrogen trichloride, he decided to employ Faraday as an assistant.

Michael Faraday Awards

He won Royal Medal and Copley Medal. HE also won Rumford Medal in 1846 and Albert Medal in 1866.

Michael Faraday Electric Motor

In 1821, soon after the Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetism. Davy and British scientist William Hyde Wollaston tried, but failed, to design an electric motor.

Faraday, having discussed the problem with the two men, went on to build two devices to produce what he called “electromagnetic rotation”.

One of these, now known as the homopolar motor, caused a continuous circular motion that was engendered by the circular magnetic force around a wire that extended into a pool of mercury wherein was placed a magnet; the wire would then rotate around the magnet if supplied with current from a chemical battery.

These experiments and inventions formed the foundation of modern electromagnetic technology.

Michael Faraday Law

Faraday’s breakthrough came when he wrapped two insulated coils of wire around an iron ring. He found that upon passing a current through one coil a momentary current was induced in the other coil. This phenomenon is now known as mutual induction.

The iron ring-coil apparatus is still on display at the Royal Institution. In subsequent experiments, he found that if he moved a magnet through a loop of wire an electric current flowed in that wire.

The current also flowed if the loop was moved over a stationary magnet. His demonstrations established that a changing magnetic field produces an electric field.

James Clerk Maxwell as Faraday’s law modeled this relationship mathematically, which subsequently became one of the four Maxwell equations, and which have in turn evolved into the generalization known today as field theory.

Faraday would later use the principles he had discovered to construct the electric dynamo, the ancestor of modern power generators and the electric motor.