Hello friends, in this publication I will talk about a scientist who did not have much fame, but who achieved a lot for science, I'm talking about Michael Faraday? Who is it? Unlike other influential scientists such as Thomas Edison or Nicolas Copernico, Michael Faraday did not achieve the fame of these men. In fact, unless you have completed higher education in the science branch (a university degree or even in high school science) it is strange that you know who Michael Faraday is. However, many of the devices used adiario, are real thanks to the studies and discoveries of this man. More specifically, the vast majority of electronic devices that we use every day is due to the studies conducted by Faraday.

(Michael Faraday 1791-1867)

Faraday made his first discovery about electromagnetism in 1821. With a needle magnetized in dots points around a thread with current, this allowed a set of lines of forces to concentrate thus creating a magnetic field where the current was the determining factor.

(Michael Faraday imparting the lecture in the Royal Institution en 1853)

Faraday abandoned the theory of electric and magnetic fluids, to explain electricity and magnetism and introduced the concepts of field and field leneas to explain electricity and magnetism, moving away from the mechanistic description of natural phenomena to the purest Newtonian style of actions from distance . This incorporation of the field concept was described by Einstein as the great change in physics by providing electricity, magnetism and optics with a common framework of physical theories. However, it is necessary to wait several years until the Faraday field lines were definitely accepted by the scientific community.

THE MOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERY

One of Faraday's most important discoveries was the knowledge of the influence of the magnetic field on a beam of polarized light, a phenomenon known as the Faraday effect or magnetic-optical effect. Faraday's investigating mind was not satisfied with revealing the relationship between electricity and magnetism, but also wanted to know if the magnets affected the optical phenomena, Faraday when verifying that a beam of linearly polarized light crosses a certain material to which a magnetic field is applied in the direction of the propagation of light , he wrote the following sentence:

"Today I worked with lines of magnetic force, applied to different bodies (transparent in different directions) and at the same time passing a polarized ray of light through it, there was an effect on the polarized beam of light, and therefore the magnetic force and the light are shown to be related to each other "

Undoubtedly, these words were the first indications that obviously the magnetic force and light were related to each other, as a result of this demonstration Faraday commented the following words:

"This fact will probably be extremely fruitful and of great value in the investigation of both kinds of natural forces"

This man was not wrong because the magnetic-optical effect is one of the fundamental pillars and one of the experimental tests of the electromagnetic theory of light.

Explanatory diagram of polarized light

Faraday and his legacy

Come the electric motor? , if that one we found, for example in a fan. Michael Faraday presented electromagnetic rotation in his studies, based on the studies of Hans Christian (who claimed the existence of a relationship between electric currents and magnetic fields), Faraday managed to get a metal to move circularly around an electromagnetic field In the following video, you can see the concrete experiment that Michael Faraday did, who would be the precursor of the revolution of electric motors.

Likewise, the Faraday scientist, starting from the Oersted theory, observed the appearance of currents in circuits in three different situations:

• If a current was established or suspended in another nearby circuit.

• If a nearby circuit through which a current circulated, moved with respect to the first.

• If a magnet was introduced or removed in the circuit. That is, if there were variations of "something" within the circuit.

These "movements" and changes, produce what Faraday denominated as variations of magnetic flux. And that variation of magnetic flux, in certain conditions, originates an electromotive force, responsible for the appearance of a current induced in a secondary circuit. This is the base of the basic transformers, in which, using coils of different number of turns (which are crossed by the same magnetic flux), it is possible to increase or reduce the voltage and intensity levels to modulate the current of the circuit.

Then you will watch an explanatory video, where you can see the aforementioned:

References Bibliography :

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday
• https://www.education.com/science-fair/article/faraday-experiment-current-generated-magnet/
• http://www.engineering-timelines.com/how/electricity/transformer.asp
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization
• https://skullsinthestars.com/2008/12/25/mr-faradays-most-excellent-experimental-researches-in-electricity-1831/