Synopsis
Jim Al-Khalili explains how an electromagnet works and how it paved the way for the birth of the telegraph.
- Programme: Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
- Episode: 02: The Age of Invention
- Channel: BBC Four
- Broadcast year: 2011
- Physics
Licence: ERA Licence required
Free to watch for UK schools, colleges and universities with an ERA Licence
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from Shock and Awe: The Story of 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
Jim Al-Khalili shows how harnessing the link between magnetism and electricity transformed the world, allo...
Alternating current | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Alternating current | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Nikola Tesla invented alternating current (AC) which allowed no electrical power to be lost when passing throug...
Electricity, Magnetism, Motion | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Electricity, Magnetism, Motion | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Hans Christian Ørsted discovered that an electric current creates a magnetic field.
The first light bulbs | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
The first light bulbs | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Jim Al-Khalili explores the history of Thomas Edison's first incandescent light bulb.
02: The Age of Invention | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
02: The Age of Invention | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Jim Al-Khalili shows how harnessing the link between magnetism and electricity transformed the world, allo...
Alternating current | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Alternating current | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Nikola Tesla invented alternating current (AC) which allowed no electrical power to be lost when passing throug...
Electricity, Magnetism, Motion | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Electricity, Magnetism, Motion | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Hans Christian Ørsted discovered that an electric current creates a magnetic field.
The first light bulbs | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
The first light bulbs | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Jim Al-Khalili explores the history of Thomas Edison's first incandescent light bulb.
More resources about Electricity
01: Spark | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
01: Spark | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Jim Al-Khalili tells how the first 'natural philosophers' began to unlock electricity's mysteries, studying its curious l...
02: The Age of Invention | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
02: The Age of Invention | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Jim Al-Khalili shows how harnessing the link between magnetism and electricity transformed the world, allo...
Alternating current | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Alternating current | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Nikola Tesla invented alternating current (AC) which allowed no electrical power to be lost when passing throug...
Dangers and nuisance of electrostatics | GCSE Bitesize Revision
Dangers and nuisance of electrostatics | GCSE Bitesize Revision
Spec references J249: P3.1c J250: P3.1c. Discharging charged objects and dangers nuisance of static electrici...
Electricity and the Atomic scale | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Electricity and the Atomic scale | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Jim Al-Khalili explores how Ernest Rutherford's work on the atom revealed what electricity was on ...
Electromagnetic waves | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Electromagnetic waves | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Jim Al-Khalili explains Michael Faraday's theory that any electrical charge can create a forcefield surroundi...
Leyden Jar | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Leyden Jar | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
A Leyden jar is a device for storing static electricity, discovered accidentally in Leiden, Netherlands.
Mains electricity 2 | GCSE Bitesize Revision
Mains electricity 2 | GCSE Bitesize Revision
Animated shorts to support students preparing for assessments in GCSE Additional Science.
Parallel and series circuits | GCSE Bitesize Revision
Parallel and series circuits | GCSE Bitesize Revision
Spec references J249: P3.1e, P3.1f, P3.2a, P3.2b J250: P3.1d, P3.1e, P3.2a, P3.2b. Circuit symbols, differences between...
Resistance | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Resistance | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
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
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
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
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
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
Spec references J249: P3.2b J250: P3.2b. Circuit symbols - narrated slides.
Circuits | Curriculum Bites
Circuits | Curriculum Bites
Schools science programme where topics in the double science curriculum are broken down into small chunks.
Crystal Junctions | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Crystal Junctions | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
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
Spec references J249: P3.2a, P3.1f J250: P3.2a, P3.1e . Animated explanation of a current in series and parallel c...
Electric charge | GCSE Bitesize Revision
Electric charge | GCSE Bitesize Revision
A revision programme covering electricity.
Electrical Power | GCSE Bitesize Revision
Electrical Power | GCSE Bitesize Revision
Spec references J249: P3.2l, P3.2m J250: P3.2l, P3.2m . Description of electrical power, P = I V, watts and kilowatts. Narrated sl...
More from Jim Al-Khalili
Nylon | Chemistry: A Volatile History
Nylon | Chemistry: A Volatile History
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
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
Nuclear physicist Professo...
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore on teenage brains | The Life Scientific
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore on teenage brains | The Life Scientific
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
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
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
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
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
Spec references J248: C3.4b J250: C3.4b. Professor Jim Al-Khalili recreates the electrolysis experiment that lead to...