This video is sponsored by Brilliant. The first 200 people to sign up via https://brilliant.org/veritasium get 20% off a yearly subscription.
Special thanks to:
Bruce Sherwood, Ruth Chabay, Aaron Titus, and Steve Spicklemore
https://matterandinteractions.org
VPython simulation: http://tinyurl.com/SurfaceCharge
Richard Abbott from Caltech
Electrical Engineering YouTubers:
Electroboom: https://www.youtube.com/c/Electroboom
Alpha Phoenix: https://www.youtube.com/c/AlphaPhoenixChannel
eevblog: https://www.youtube.com/c/EevblogDave
Ben Watson: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgZUVIEtBnnBpFWJuxl_E5g
Big Clive: https://www.youtube.com/c/Bigclive
Z Y: https://www.youtube.com/user/ZongyiYang
Further analysis of the large circuit is available here: https://ve42.co/bigcircuit
Special thanks to Dr Geraint Lewis for bringing up this question in the first place and discussing it with us. Check out his and Dr Chris Ferrie's new book here: https://ve42.co/Universe2021
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References:
A great video about the Poynting vector by the Science Asylum: https://youtu.be/C7tQJ42nGno
Sefton, I. M. (2002). Understanding electricity and circuits: What the text books don't tell you. In Science Teachers' Workshop. -- https://ve42.co/Sefton
Feynman, R. P., Leighton, R. B., & Sands, M. (1965). The feynman lectures on physics; vol. Ii, chapter 27. American Journal of Physics, 33(9), 750-752. -- https://ve42.co/Feynman27
Hunt, B. J. (2005). The Maxwellians. Cornell University Press.
Müller, R. (2012). A semiquantitative treatment of surface charges in DC circuits. American Journal of Physics, 80(9), 782-788. -- https://ve42.co/Muller2012
Galili, I., & Goihbarg, E. (2005). Energy transfer in electrical circuits: A qualitative account. American journal of physics, 73(2), 141-144. -- https://ve42.co/Galili2004
Deno, D. W. (1976). Transmission line fields. IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, 95(5), 1600-1611. -- https://ve42.co/Deno76
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Written by Derek Muller
Edited by Derek Muller
Filmed by Trenton Oliver and Petr Lebedev
Animation by Mike Radjabov and Ivy Tello
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images
Music from Epidemic Sound and Jonny Hyman
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, and Emily Zhang
Why did you place the circuit so high on the wood?
Also that looks like you are at liberty station.
@gary7196 Says:
The numerator takes on the units of the denominator. It seems to me that 1/c is 'c' is in meters per second, then the numerator would have to represent 1 meter.
@marcrosner5604 Says:
It must be somewhat frustrating to be so smart. 😂
@ahmetcaneryuzuguler5223 Says:
This video admits and proves that you were wrong in your previous video. The current induced in the parallel wire is just a cross talk between two parallel wires, which is a very well known fact that no one is surprised by.
@Forodren_Ardhor Says:
As an electrical engineer, this youtube debate on long circuit is extremely entertaining
@YesSir-y3j Says:
I'm just making sure because I am a humble DIY stereo builder with a background in building laptops for corporations. And that is from the ground up. So, while I have experience in the field, I am not a scientist by any means. However, there are theories and there is laws and then there are facts... This video sounds like fact, I don't hear any statements saying elsewise or that this is a law of how things work which is generally unrefuted. You tell me if I am off course here, and then, I see people who disagree in other videos and comments, so there is so much confidence emanating from this video, I don't know what to think. Is this debatable theory or is it either fact or law? I'm guessing there is no way to make it factual. If it is not either an accepted law by peers or a fact, I feel like this video is disingenuous and should be presented in the beginning in such a way that we consider your findings but do not write them in stone just yet... Even though there is a high percentage that you are correct. I've had flat earthers present me there statements in the same way. And to be honest, even as someone who believes in a round earth, I would never speak as fact, I would give my reasons for the theory.
@CarlosRangel Says:
The biggest mistake is asking a question that is highly dependent un undisclosed variables.
@samuelharris4509 Says:
Taking the definition of what electro magnetic fields do literally, this makes a ton of sense. They move charges! And that force just radiates radially. The wire/circuit itself sets up the charges that induce the field which then radiates to the resistor. Thanks this makes a ton of sense
@martinsimek3963 Says:
It's a great video. But revisiting this after some years again I have to say :
You first video was "bait claim". You said the bulb would be on. Which most of people understood clearly as fully on.
While what I now understand you meant is "the bulb will go on FOR A BIT - due to the wire working as an antena and gathering some energy wirelessly. Then the bulb will fully go on later, at the time of one second, as everyone expected based on the simplified definition of lighbulb being on"
In other words - the bulb will go on in one second. Otherwise we wont need wires.
@manachapandey5406 Says:
“Is the energy transfer shown in the video during initial spike same as capacitive coupling encountered by lamp when we bring it close to high voltage-power lines”. Please tell me if I am wrong.
@PedroFMPascoal Says:
Why not hitting the objects with the bullets in sinc? At the same time. It would be insane to see what happens inside the objects, specialy the human head... But really nice video! Keep going 💪
@plantinfo8184 Says:
Yo-All!.. there is voltage/current/resistance for electricity. Electricity usually turns a motor, or the polarity of electrical flow turns a switch, lastly the movement of electrons through resistance can generate heat -> light.
Electricity doesn't flow freely as a stream of new electrons from the power source. Rather, the electrons already in the conductor shift and drift through the wire, while the electrical wave or electromagnetic field propagates through the conductor from the power source.
Because the electron is intermediary in existence, measurable effects occur at the generator -> through the wire -> load -> ground. An electron does exist even when it is not being measured; however, according to quantum mechanics, some of its properties may exist in a superposition of possible states until a measurement is made. Measurement does not create the electron or bring it into reality, but rather determines the outcome of one of its possible quantum states. --📦'r
@ThePilotJ Says:
Let us assume there is a square-shaped circuit with a total perimeter of 4 light-seconds. If a light bulb and a battery are connected at opposite positions—separated by a distance of 1 light-second—will the light bulb turn on after 1 second?
@aidashkrela3980 Says:
This whole debate has been
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@Ethan.7771 Says:
Hmm… I wonder what it was that Nikola Tesla found out that the big Electrical companies didn’t want people knowing about..
@DanielPecci98 Says:
21:50
Am I the only one noticing that this man has almost the same exact voice as Mike from Breaking Bad?
@schquitagoodwin7549 Says:
great re-explain! loved this better than the first
@albert_mendoza Says:
You are 💯 correct, Derek
@theproplanetarysystem3418 Says:
electricity "simply flows around it"
@baronred919 Says:
As a Chinese Hardware Engineer, I'm astonished by the brand of oscilloscope "SIGLENT'.
@yoyo-u4t2y Says:
https://youtu.be/oI_X2cMHNe0?t=394 but magnetic field only forms in ac not dc
@Hunter-pm3xz Says:
I don't understand how the surface charges establish instantaneously , I was reading Griffith introduction to electrodynamics and he has mentioned about the electric field due to charge build up , so understand that the electrons are moving due to the electric field but I just don't get how it's instantaneous.
@jbseattle7461 Says:
Another way to think of this is as a radio transmitter antenna on the battery/switch side and a receiver antenna on the bulb side.
@raza3001 Says:
What if there is nothing such as electron flows in or around wires . ?
Instead it is all electron magnetic fields thats is generated by magnets in generator motor and it pushes the photons from the atmosphere around the copper wire and at any very narrow point inside a bulb they collide and creates heat and brightness . The light and heat what photons are actually
@monkeeseemonkeedoo3745 Says:
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!
@Michael19841 Says:
The problem is people don’t understand quantum fields. Quantum vacuum fluctuations are minute random fluctuations in the values of the fields which represent elementary particles, such as electric and magnetic fields which represent the electromagnetic force carried by photons
@BeatriceBech Says:
I get that it is the electric field causing the electrons to transfer energy to the load, but why is it that in the simulations e.g. when you close the switch at 11 : 15 and you say current starts flowing, the electrons are moving ? Does this not go against the original explanation ?
@EricPham-f8e Says:
Imagine if background all we need put the bulb where it supposed to be. Just like it you put human in the church they pray in the school they teach and learn in the field they grow and hard vest so the field is all determined and it knew birth and death before human know. That's why chinese study geography and usa build GIS
@EricPham-f8e Says:
Light is every where all lightbulb does is reveal it
@EricPham-f8e Says:
The law already written before the circuit is in drawing board just like a child fate is sealed before birth
@mariogastelum1463 Says:
l saw a video about how electricity flows some time ago but l did not get it, your video makes it clear so now l get it.
@JohnnyLu-x2d Says:
I have developed an original waste-to-energy theory called The Lumangyao Method. It utilizes Sugarcane Pressmud (also known globally as Filter Cake or Filter Mud) through a unique "Dual-Harvesting Hybrid Cell." The bottom layer operates as an Acidic Microbial Bio-Battery utilizing the mud's natural acidity to generate electricity. Simultaneously, the top layer features a Thermoelectric Generator that captures additional power from the mud’s intense biological heat contrasting with the cooler night air. This dual-harvesting system from a single agricultural waste has never been done before, and I am looking for international laboratory researchers and engineering collaborators to build the first prototype! THIS SYSTEM WAS CONCEPTUALIZED BY JOHNNY ARANG LUMANGYAO FROM THE PHILIPPINES
@ILTYT Says:
If you cant explain something simply you dont understand it!
In your first video you talk in circles instead of simply laying out the specific variables/setup, that result in your specific manicured "answer". Such as a pre energized circuit simply on a switch, or the fact that the light and power source are 1m apart. You make two half hour videos seemingly trying to convince people that the power in their homes does a straight b-line to them directly through the air completely bypassing the miles of wires.
@Massiv3Butthole Says:
That’s not how it works!
@Slats77 Says:
minutephysics is still my hero
@lancancom Says:
I’m reminded of Platos allegory of The Cave!
The idea that electrons push each other along the circuit is like the shadows on the wall.
It’s an apparition.
@juancasanova8434 Says:
The problem is that your first video makes no distinction at all between the initial voltage and the voltage once the circuit stabilises. These are not the same at all, and if the distance between the cables was just 50 meters, the initial voltage would be basically zero. Like yeah, it exists, but it's not the bulk of the power transfer that happens. That one takes 1 second to go through the circuit. The larger point that power is transmitted by the field is correct and important, but the way you made it felt (still does feel) extremely misleading.
@williamcampbell9859 Says:
I guess it's just misleading terminology. You say "the light turns on" and people think of the circuit in a steady-state. What you actually mean is there is an interim state between switch and steady-state, and with the right configuration, it can be enough to notice before steady-state is reached. You are technically correct but in a vacuum it's sort of a moot point, not really worth all this effort to basically correct your grammar
@Kolonyak17 Says:
Thanks for the video ı learned so much
@maximilianmulller3743 Says:
I was researching a bit more and want to share some interesting add ons.
Wave propagation speed in air is slightly less than in a vacuum (neglegible)
The dielectric is important so insulators and their permittivity pay a role in slower field propagation, as they can go down to 0.6c. This of course doesn't play a role when the length of the air is high compared to insulators but may play a role when building this setup in a PCB for example
The conductor material is important. Lossy materials with a finite, but not huge conductivity there is a field dissipation effect so that part of the field penetrates the material. This doesn't really define a slower propagation time, but the definition of "arrival time breaks" as the wavefront smears and you need to define a threshold for "action arrived". At 1m/c the effect is infinitely small and time is defined by what you measure as "effect". This also holds for copper as a non perfect conductor. If you think about very thin or very long wires, resistance increases attenuation and high frequency dampening. This doesn't mean that the "effect" travels longer, it means that there is no sharp edge/wavefront, or the effect is dampened. Starting to slowly destroy the definition of "on" and "off". I think this is quite interesting, as the propagation speed stays, but the definition of "time", "on", and "off" becomes more and more difficult to define. This doesn't mean, the time changes, but it means that the wire dimensions can have an effect on how arrival time is defined when looking into real (imperfect) materials. I find this quite fascinating, because this effect is always there even in it's slightest form when having thick copper wires that are not too long. But the thinner and longer the wire gets, the more the effect comes into play, while 1m/c still is correct but it loses it's definition. In this case I think it means: does the length have an effect? yes and no!
@arnavkaranjekar9627 Says:
I prayed for times like these
@Mitchjason1 Says:
What?
@zaadbaad541 Says:
Electricity is magic
@popeconstantine8839 Says:
Funny how this "revelation" blows minds in the western world, where ppl from Poland to china have been using naked wire for antennas and are goin "duh"
@SirPheobis Says:
Lol, your chain theory would also explain why the light would fire off as there are already electons on the wire and batteries hold potential not electrons.
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