Insulators and Conductors | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Duration: 4'22''

Synopsis

Stephen Gray, a silk dyer, was used to seeing sparks leap from the silk so he began experiments conducting electricity.

Further Information

More clips from Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

01: Spark | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

01: Spark | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 59'21''

Jim Al-Khalili tells how the first 'natural philosophers' began to unlock electricity's mysteries, studying its curious l...

Leyden Jar | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Leyden Jar | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 4'44''

A Leyden jar is a device for storing static electricity, discovered accidentally in Leiden, Netherlands.

Positive and negative charges | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Positive and negative charges | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 3'18''

Benjamin Franklin discovered that electricity could be like money in a bank, it could be in credit (p...

Voltaic Pile | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Voltaic Pile | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 5'06''

Invented by Italian chemist Alessandro Volta in 1799, the voltaic pile was the first electrical battery that could con...

What is electricity | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

What is electricity | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 1'49''

An electric current is essentially the flow of electrons (which are electrically charged) from one atom to anot...

More resources about Electricity

02: The Age of Invention | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

02: The Age of Invention | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 59'23''

Jim Al-Khalili shows how harnessing the link between magnetism and electricity transformed the world, allo...

01: Spark | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

01: Spark | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 59'21''

Jim Al-Khalili tells how the first 'natural philosophers' began to unlock electricity's mysteries, studying its curious l...

Circuits | Curriculum Bites

Circuits | Curriculum Bites

CBBC | 2003 | 5'42''

Schools science programme where topics in the double science curriculum are broken down into small chunks.

What is electricity | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

What is electricity | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 1'49''

An electric current is essentially the flow of electrons (which are electrically charged) from one atom to anot...

Alternating current | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Alternating current | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 5'14''

Nikola Tesla invented alternating current (AC) which allowed no electrical power to be lost when passing throug...

Electricity and the Atomic scale | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Electricity and the Atomic scale | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 3'09''

Jim Al-Khalili explores how Ernest Rutherford's work on the atom revealed what electricity was on ...

How Nikola Tesla electrified his Victorian peers | Victorian Sensations

How Nikola Tesla electrified his Victorian peers | Victorian Sensations

BBC Four | 2019 | 2'09''

Hannah Fry describes the first moment Nikola Tesla demonstrated the power of electricity.

Leyden Jar | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Leyden Jar | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 4'44''

A Leyden jar is a device for storing static electricity, discovered accidentally in Leiden, Netherlands.

Parallel and series circuits | GCSE Bitesize Revision

Parallel and series circuits | GCSE Bitesize Revision

BBC Two | 2010 | 3'08''

Spec references J249: P3.1e, P3.1f, P3.2a, P3.2b J250: P3.1d, P3.1e, P3.2a, P3.2b. Circuit symbols, differences between...

Positive and negative charges | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Positive and negative charges | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 3'18''

Benjamin Franklin discovered that electricity could be like money in a bank, it could be in credit (p...

Resistance | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Resistance | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 4'44''

Jim Al-Khalili explains how, as we made microchips smaller, the electrical feature of resistance was becoming more probl...

The invention of the electricity generator | The Genius of Invention

The invention of the electricity generator | The Genius of Invention

BBC Two | 2013 | 5'00''

Mark Miodownik explores the scientific achievements of Michael Faraday. He linked ideas of motion and ma...

03: Revelations and Revolutions | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

03: Revelations and Revolutions | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 59'04''

Jim Al-Khalili concludes by looking at how, if we could understand the secret of electrical superco...

03/12/2009 | Bang Goes the Theory

03/12/2009 | Bang Goes the Theory

BBC One | 2009 | 58'12''

A Bang Goes the Theory special event showing how much electricity we use without even thinking about it. The gang attempts to power a house...

Alternating and direct current | GCSE Bitesize Revision

Alternating and direct current | GCSE Bitesize Revision

BBC Two | 2010 | 35'''

Spec references J249: P8.2h J250: P6.2g. Alternating and direct current. Description and animation.

Circuit symbols | GCSE Bitesize Revision

Circuit symbols | GCSE Bitesize Revision

BBC Two | 2010 | 13''

Spec references J249: P3.2b J250: P3.2b. Circuit symbols - narrated slides.

Crystal Junctions | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Crystal Junctions | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 5'46''

Jim Al-Khalili explores the race between scientists to create a reliable way to amplify electrical signals, and i...

Current in series and parallel circuits | Curriculum Bites

Current in series and parallel circuits | Curriculum Bites

CBBC | 2003 | 55''

Spec references J249: P3.2a, P3.1f J250: P3.2a, P3.1e . Animated explanation of a current in series and parallel c...

Dangers and nuisance of electrostatics | GCSE Bitesize Revision

Dangers and nuisance of electrostatics | GCSE Bitesize Revision

BBC Two | 2010 | 45''

Spec references J249: P3.1c J250: P3.1c. Discharging charged objects and dangers nuisance of static electrici...

Electric charge | GCSE Bitesize Revision

Electric charge | GCSE Bitesize Revision

BBC Two | 2010 | 1'27''

A revision programme covering electricity.

More from Jim Al-Khalili

Nylon | Chemistry: A Volatile History

Nylon | Chemistry: A Volatile History

BBC Four | 2010 | 2'07''

Jim Al-Khalili reveals the breakthroughs which harnessed elements' ability to release vast power, showing how scientists are trying to ...

Einstein and the beetle | Gravity and Me: The Force that Shapes our Lives

Einstein and the beetle | Gravity and Me: The Force that Shapes our Lives

BBC Four | 2017 | 1'20''

Professor Jim Al-Khalili explains Einstein's analogy of gravity that he told his son to explain his...

Prof Jim Al Khalili goes inside Calder Hall for his first look inside the core of a nuclear reactor | Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield

Prof Jim Al Khalili goes inside Calder Hall for his first look inside the core of a nuclear reactor | Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield

BBC Four | 2015 | 3'20''

Nuclear physicist Professo...

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore on teenage brains | The Life Scientific

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore on teenage brains | The Life Scientific

BBC Radio 4 | 2015 | 26'54''

Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore talks to Jim Al-Khalili about her research on the developing teenage brain.

The race to prove Maxwell's theory | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

The race to prove Maxwell's theory | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 5'11''

Jim Al-Khalili explains how physics professor Oliver Lodge proved Maxwell's theory that electrom...

Fukushima: Is Nuclear Power Safe? | Horizon

Fukushima: Is Nuclear Power Safe? | Horizon

BBC Two | 2011 | 57'29''

Six months after the explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, Professor Jim Al-Khalili sets out to discover whether nu...

Arabic, the language of God | Science and Islam

Arabic, the language of God | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 5'36''

Jim Al-Khalili looks at how Islamic caliphs encouraged scientific research and made Arabic the official language of their vas...

Introduction to Electronic Structure and Chemical Properties | Atom

Introduction to Electronic Structure and Chemical Properties | Atom

BBC Four | 2007 | 1'21''

Spec references J248: C2.2h J250: C2.2h. Professor Jim Al-Khalili explains how chemical properties are de...

Electrolysis - Discovery of Potassium | Curriculum Bites

Electrolysis - Discovery of Potassium | Curriculum Bites

CBBC | 2003 | 3'06''

Spec references J248: C3.4b J250: C3.4b. Professor Jim Al-Khalili recreates the electrolysis experiment that lead to...