- How can doing drugs lead to success
and what is an arc lamp
and how has it related to this whole mess?
Well, I'll tell you and along the way,
I'll talk about pre Victorian drug parties, giant, stinking
batteries, science superstars,
and chemistry for the female sex.
Ready? Let's go!
♪ Electricity, electricity ♪
Humphrey Davy was born in Cornwall, England,
to a farmer and a woodcarver.
Davy lived in genteel poverty
with enough money for Humphrey to go to local school,
but not more advanced without help from his godfather.
His brother described their upbringing as having, quote,
"Little taste for literature and still less for science."
Instead, they all delighted in hunting, shooting wrestling,
cockfighting, all ending in drunkenness.
When Davy was 16, his father died,
and his godfather got him a job as an indentured servant
to a local surgeon and apothecary.
The plan was for Davy to study to become a doctor himself.
Meanwhile, Davy self-taught and worked in the pharmacy.
He started to teach himself chemistry merely as a branch
of his professional knowledge.
Pretty soon he was hooked, causing his boss to complain,
quote, "This boy Humphrey is incorrigible.
He will blow us all into the air."
Meanwhile, the drug nitrous oxide
or laughing gas had been discovered.
A man named Thomas Beddoes decided that it might be good
for people with lung problems.
No one thought of using it as a painkiller
for further 50 years.
Anyway, Beddoes started a Pneumatic Institute
and he decided to hire Humphrey Davy to assistant him.
At the Institute,
Davy diligently conducted experiments
on himself, his friends and all types of animals.
Pretty soon, a group of doctors, patients, scientists,
and poets were meeting at the Institute every night
to studiously experiment with the drug.
It was especially popular
with the poets like Samuel Coleridge and William Wordsworth.
Another poet named Robert Southey wrote, quote,
"Such a gas Davy discovered, the gaseous oxide.
I've had some and it made me laugh and tingle
in every toe in fingertip.
Davy has actually invented a new pleasure
for which language has no name."
By the way, Davy didn't invent laughing gas,
nor did he pretend to, but sometimes people forgot,
especially after using the drug.
Anyway, Davy produced a huge 580 page book on nitrous oxide.
Almost immediately, nitrous oxide was used
at laughing gas parties.
It continued to be a prominent feature
in both upper-class events
and traveling science shows for the masses
for almost 100 years.
For the upper crust of England,
the handsome, young Davy was the master of ceremonies
and prolific practitioner for an astonishing new drug.
Bristol and the Pneumatic Institute was not big enough
for this rising new star.
It was time to go to London.
In 1799, a wealthy Englishman got together
with his titled friends to create a new science Institute
in London called the Royal Institution.
The endless war with Napoleon
and France had landlocked many Englishman
from their international science pursuits.
And he wanted a place for research giving talks
and for, quote, "Exciting a taste
for science among the higher ranks."
The original 58 members were Dukes and barons
and members of parliament,
basically every high ranking man
in England who had an interest in science,
and they had an opening for a chemist and a lecturer.
Davy's most important job was to give interesting lectures.
In 1800, he gave his first public lecture in London
on the hot topic of the day.
Galvanism or reanimating dead animals with electricity.
It was an instant success of grand proportions from then on
when he gave his talks,
they had to make the street
in front of the building one way to help
with all the traffic.
Davy was not just lecturing,
he was also a prolific researcher.
He studied geology and architecture
with the same zeal as chemistry.
Publishing paper after paper,
but carefully not interrupting his busy social life
with immense amounts of laughing gas
or his the avid fly fishing.
Frankly, it's exhausting just reading about him.
Meanwhile, in the same year,
Davy started his lectures at the Royal institution,
an Italian man named Alessandro Volta found
that if you stack layers of zinc and silver
or zinc and copper with thin cardboard soaked in salt water,
it would produce continual electricity.
In other words,
Volta invented the battery.
A Scotsman turned Volta's invention on its side
and put plates of copper and zinc
in a rectangular box or trough that was filled
with sulphuric acid and water.
This was better than voltage battery
as the acid was stronger than the salt water
and putting it on its side meant
that you could use as many places you wanted
without the weight of the metal squishing
all the saltwater out of the cardboard.
Davy decided to use the trough battery
to make the biggest battery in the world.
He filled over 880 square feet of the basement
of the institute, with 2000 plates of copper and zinc
and unmeasured gallons of acid,
supposedly produced some off-gasses
that smelled just awful.
Why would a chemist want a big, stinky battery?
Well, it turns out the voltage
from a battery can actually rip the molecules apart
in a liquid and produce pure elements.
In fact, when Volta first invented the battery,
science discovered that if you put the ends of a wire
from the battery into water,
then the ends would form bubbles of hydrogen and oxygen.
The difficulty was in creating a fluid
that could be decomposed into new elements.
When Davy finally succeeded in 1806, quote,
"He could not contain his joy.
He actually bounded about the room
in ecstatic delight."
Davy then isolated eight new elements
and his lectures on his new discoveries cemented his place
as one of the top scientists in England
and possibly the world.
While playing with his giant battery and chemicals,
Davy noticed something strange.
If his two leads were made of carbon and they touched,
it could create a spark.
If the rods were then slowly separated,
the spark would grow bigger and bigger and create a constant
and brilliantly strong light.
In this way,
he could get
a four inch long painfully bright light with electricity.
In 1809, Davy first demonstrated his invention
that he called an arch lamp as it made an arch of light,
but it was quickly called an arc lamp.
This was the first practical electric light.
Although only useful for outdoor
or demonstration purposes,
as it was between 10 and 40 times brighter
than 100 watt light bulb.
Arc lamps were actually used for commercial purposes
until the late 18 hundreds when they were replaced
by incandescent lamps.
A comment about women in science at the time.
Science was moving from salons run by wealthy heiresses
to laboratories at places like the Royal Institution.
For this reason,
women were no longer involved in assisting experiments
or promoting scientists.
However, they were allowed to join
in on laughing gas parties.
Sometimes with the hope it would make them more agreeable
to their husbands.
Women were also allowed to attend science lectures
and Davy was a leader in pushing
for women's education and science.
One woman Jane Marcet,
who attended many of Davy's lectures
was initially confused by them.
She then asked her husband for help to understand the basics
and felt like it made Davy's talks much more rewarding
for this reason,
she wrote an introduction
to chemistry book, quote,
"Intended most especially, for the female sex."
Based on the chemistry in Humphry Davy's lectures.
Although the book was written for women,
it was popular with men, too,
especially those with lower class backgrounds,
as you didn't need to read Latin or have a formal education
to understand it.
In fact, it was one of the first
elementary science textbooks ever written.
In 1810, Marcet book ended up in a bookstore in London
and a young book binders apprentice
named Michael Faraday happened to read it.
In later years, Faraday credited Jane Marcet book
with teaching him how to experiment with chemistry.
I will talk a lot more about Faraday in the next video.
Anyway, back to Humphrey Davy.
In October of 1812,
Davy had an accident in the laboratory.
He was leaning over some chemicals and they exploded
and severely damaged his eye.
According to his brother,
it's surprising He didn't have more injuries,
as Davy was an excited and disorganized experimenter.
And, quote, "Exposure to danger was an everyday occurrence."
It took Davy a few months to recover
and therefore he needed an assistant.
Davy ended up hiring Michael Faraday to help out.
The same person who I mentioned had started experimenting
with chemistry because of Jane Marcet book.
David didn't know it,
but Faraday would soon eclipse him as one
of the most innovative experimental scientists
the world has ever known.
How Davy helped Faraday escape poverty,
only to eventually turn on him, starts next time on
"The Secret History of electricity."
♪ Electricity, Electricity. ♪
Thanks for watching my video.
Please remember to give it a nice thumbs up.
If you haven't seen it,
I highly recommended the video
on how Volta invented the battery.
Also, you have to check out the next video on Faraday.
because it's Faraday.
Trust me you have to.
Also make sure to join my YouTube channel,
Kathy Love's Physics, my Facebook page,
Cathy Loves Physics
or check out my webpage WWW.Kathylovesphysics.com.
Okay, have a good day.
(upbeat jazz music)