OU on the BBC: Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

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Story of Electricity main Copyrighted imageCredit: BBC Journeying after electricity In this series, scientist Jim Al-Khalili charts the fascinating history of mankind's attempt to understand and harness the power of electricity in this three-part series.

To find out more about upcoming episodes, check out our episode guide below. Then test your knowledge of electricity with our Spark it Up game. You can also visit the BBC pages or watch it on BBC iPlayer.

If you'd like to learn more about harnessing electricity in engineering and technology, see what courses The Open University has to offer. Or try a taster with this free LearningSpace unit.

Story of Electricity episode guide Copyrighted imageCredit: BBC

Find out more about upcoming episodes of Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity. Read more : Story of Electricity episode guide

Spark it up! Featuring:

How many eels to power a laptop? Discover how much energy it takes to start up a variety of objects in this game developed to... Launch now: Spark it up!

Here's a taste of the series:

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Jim Al-Khalili is a great

Creek Nancy

17 Mar 201211:56

Jim Al-Khalili is a great scientist！
good article, (commercial website removed by OpenLearn Moderator 19.03.12)

Maybe the neutron`s boson is

Brendas Anders

10 May 201210:14

Maybe the neutron`s boson is actually the elusive graviton, since a photon leaving a high mass object, may become red shifted as it encounters and exchanges angular momentum with an incoming graviton, the graviton becoming blue shifted by the encounter, on route to the object`s neutron orbitals?

soundtrack

Pete Mills

22 Jan 201219:05

Really enjoyed this series of programmes although I only discovered them at the second round of schedules. Particularly enjoyed the soundtrack which seems to use Hans Zimmer's "Time" as a basis in many parts, although there seem to be some new sections which have been worked up. Shame that there is no mention of the music used anywhere that I can find.

virtual boson

Andrew Grundy

31 Jan 201222:28

How do virtual boson fit in with the history of electricity?
An electron`s orbital emits and absorbs a photon`s worth of angular momentum(energy) per event, but if neutron also follow orbital paths, and since the neutron is a composite particle, maybe the neutron`s boson is also a composite particle, and possibly the neutrino emitted by a neutron during its eventual decay?
Maybe the neutron`s boson is actually the elusive graviton, since a photon leaving a high mass object, may become red shifted as it encounters and exchanges angular momentum with an incoming graviton, the graviton becoming blue shifted by the encounter, on route to the object`s neutron orbitals?
Maybe neutrons are expelled from the nucleus if they gain too much angular energy from incoming blue shifted gravitons, curving space-time being the background within which the liberated neutron travels?

Hi Andrew,We have referred

Openlearn Moderator

01 Feb 201210:47

Hi Andrew,
We have referred your questions to one of our academics who will supply the answers as soon as possible.
Many thanks
OpenLean Moderator

Electricity

William Thomas

15 Jan 201212:58

At school i was totally disinterested in science due to teachers spending more time on the excitement of chemical changes using a bunsen burner than its' historical development or relevance to the modern world. The series on electricity was an inspirational eye opener but please could you go more slowly for us nerds--- even replaying the episodes several times i still don't understand the difference between high and low energies. Perhaps that is because i was taught that energy is heat.

Screwed up nerd.

Classic image of Tesla in a Faraday Cage with lightning

Robin Turner

15 Jan 201202:23

Did we see, for a second or two, the image which has been acknowledged as faked, of Tesla in a spherical cage and a lightning bolt?

Transmission of electricty over long distance

Robin Turner

15 Jan 201202:20

It was a good job that the North American, who is probably an engineer, gave the correct reason for Tesla's method for transmitting a lot of electrical power over long distances being better than Edison's system because Professor Jim misled the non engineer viewer.

Tesla's system is better for that purpose because it uses high voltages for transmission and consequently there is less energy loss in transmission and not because it is alternating current.

Alternating current is essential for the distribution phase because the voltage can be reduced at substations with minimal power loss. And also to step up the voltage at the power stations.

That is high voltage is needed for economical transmission and alternating current is needed for economical distribution which is not the same issue as transmission.

"No 3 - Nikola Tesla - 'The

Alex Oxford

08 Jan 201216:39

"No 3 - Nikola Tesla - 'The True Genius who Lit the World'
Brian Heath
17 Oct 201117:07

Considering that this series is supposed to be educational and encompass important inventors of Electricity in a Truthful way, I found this episode to be a very dissapointing portrayal of Nikola Tesla and his dedicated life's work for humanity. Many other very important discoveries and inventions of Tesla were totally ignored by the program researchers and in summary of his last days, the program suggested he was paranoid and had lost his mind.

I would invite any serious professor or researcher, to prove any of the following to be untrue.

1 - Tesla had formulated his Alternating Current theory, while employed in France, prior to emigrating to USA.
2 - He went to work for Eddison, thinking this 'great' man would welcome his ideas, but was cheated out of thousands of dollars by a broken promise of payment.
3 - Tesla forfeited all his Royalties to Westinghouse as a gesture of thanks and support, after Westinghouse explained 'his back was against the wall' as his Bankers were trying to shut him down.
4 - In Colorado, Tesla conducted tests to understand exactly how lightening worked. He was able to generate voltages of millions of volts and created a bolt of lightening 124 feet in length. Later, Wardencliffe Tower was built by Tesla, to prove that his idea to create and transmit FREE Electricity worked. J P Morgan who had financed Tesla, removed all financial support when he realised he would not be able to charge for this electricity. The Tower was destroyed and Tesla was a broken man.
5 - Tesla invented a radio controlled boat in 1898 at New York City's old Madison Square Garden.
6 - Tesla invented radio as we know it today, NOT Marconi.
7 - Tesla invented a 'shield' that would protect USA from invasion. It was demonstrated to top US officials and Government. The HAARP weather modification used today, is based on Tesla patent. The Russians built similar devices which caused the 'Woodpecker' noise interference which radio Hams picked up.

This entire Planet we live on today, is totally dependent on AC current which Tesla invented, yet he is generally ignored, or ridiculed by mainstream media who prefer to recognise Edison or Marconi as pioneers and great thinkers... !

(Commercial websites removed by OpenLearn Moderator19.10.11)"

Quite right, bit less of the crazed scientist please (seen it before), and a little more mention of how the global political and environment would be in allot better situation if Tesla had succeeded. Program should of ended :- "Imagine what the world could of become today. If only the people of the day could have had the courage to stop the bankers back then, what a wasted opportunity"!

Wrong motor Professor Al-Khalili !

Ian Benton

29 Oct 201117:45

The alternating current motor, the operation of which is described in the second episode is not Nikola Tesla's induction motor, but the synchronous motor, invented at around the same time by John Hopkinson.

The operation of the induction motor is considerably more complex.

It was John Hopkinson, not Tesla, that patented three-phase power distribution in 1882.

And, by the way, the resistance of a carbon filament DECREASES with temperature. It is the resistance of a metal filament that increases with temperature.

Oliver Lodge

Ken Taylor

21 Oct 201118:09

Hello, well I was also a Decca apprentice and attended Brooklands 10 years before you! I thought some of the lecturers seemed so old that they must have been there when electricity was first discovered, but I was only 16. I am now a tour guide at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford where prof. Jim was sitting examining Marconi's "black box" in part 3, and I have been researching Oliver Lodge and his discoveries and inventions. I thought the program was excellent and well done for bringing Lodge to prominence.

http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/marconi/

Excellent series that fills a few holes.

Jonathan Nightingale

18 Oct 201120:25

I undertook a Broad Based Electronic course at Brooklands Techical College in 1979 as an apprentice for Decca Radar. It was an excellent full time course that embraced AC theory, Digital techniques, computer programming etc. But what it didn't do was provide the history. During my course Faraday, Tesla and many others were all mentioned as the SME’s of their day. But no more than a mention. Hawksby, the Leyden jar, et al were never mentioned.
This series has really provided the missing layer and is as much historic as scientific. It shouldn’t be tucked away on Beeb Four. It deserves prime viewing.
Thank you.

No 3 - Nikola Tesla - 'The True Genius who Lit the World'

Brian Heath

17 Oct 201118:07

I would invite any serious professor or researcher, to prove any of the following to be untrue.

(Commercial websites removed by OpenLearn Moderator19.10.11)

2nd program

Wayne Simpson

17 Oct 201116:28

I've just watched the 2nd in the series and I think Prof Jim is losing his super-powers.:-)
He missed a chance to crank up the tension of the 'current wars' by not mentioning the vile electrocution of Topsy the elephant by The Edison Company, in their vain attempt to discredit AC.

I'm just nit-picking really, this program gave a great depiction of the troubled but brilliant human being that was Nikola Tesla..emotive stuff ( aided by a Zimmerman soundtrack?)
Tesla gave us so much more than just the AC polyphase system.
All in all, a great program, well presented, entertaining AND.. educational !

Arc Lights

Wayne Simpson

16 Oct 201116:17

Awe, c'mon fellas you didn't really think that the Beeb would let one of it's best,new assets loose with a carbon arc lamp in such a dangerous way?
Prof. Jimbo would have had 3600 degrees c in his face, not to mention very noxious gasses too if that stunt had been for real.
'Well done' to the special effect department for doing such a convincing job and thanks to the BBC and the OU for their new style science programs on light/chemistry/ the atom and now electricity, great programs in the vein of James Burke's Connections?
...Which (co-incidentally) opened with?... a carbon-arc-lamp !

I'm not sure about the mercury bath fumes though? but I reckon that won't trouble Prof Jim as he is the Chuck Norris of the science-presenter world .

Mercury bath safety

Robin Turner

15 Jan 201201:53

In the demonstration of Faraday's electric motor in the programme it was not mercury at the top because the meniscus was the wrong way up for mercury and the surface certainly did not look like mercury.

I suspect that there was a layer of a salt at the top to create a protective barrier between the professor and the mercury.

Mercury bath safety

Robin Turner

15 Jan 201201:21

I suspect that there was a layer of a salt at the top to create a protective barrier between the professor and the mercury.

Mercury bath safety

Robin Turner

15 Jan 201201:21

I suspect that there was a layer of a salt at the top to create a protective barrier between the professor and the mercury.

First electric motor

Peter Nichols

14 Oct 201118:42

what determines the speed at which the wire will rotate in the mercury? Is there a maximum speed?

Health & Safety

Iain Cumming

14 Oct 201115:30

I agree with Chris about looking at arc lights without eye protection!. But what about Jim al Khalili's demonstration of the rotating wire in the mercury bath? He must be breathing in considerable concentrations of mercury vapour! Marvellous stuff, but perhaps not altogether politically correct in to-day's climate!

Arc light

Chris Clifton

14 Oct 201113:04

I was somewhat concerned to see Jim demonstrate a carbon arc without any eye protection. I always understood that the UV light produced by such an arc was very dangerous for the eyes. Not something to try at home!!

In Shock and Awe

Ian Matthews

11 Oct 201116:57

What I found strange was that the battery was around, all be it primative, at the time off the pharaoh's! But this was not explained or discussed!

Pharaoh's Batteries

Wayne Simpson

17 Oct 201116:02

I think that Pharaohs batteries would have been no match for the Arc of the Covenant, which was rumoured to have been a huge capacitor.
The mis-spelling of Ark was an attempted joke by the way!
But as Harry Hill would say: ''There's only one way to decide this thing...FIGHT !''

Hi Ian, Thanks for your

Openlearn Moderator

13 Oct 201110:17

Hi Ian,

Thanks for your comment on Shock and Awe.

The series was covering thousands of years' worth of information in just a few episodes, so while the production team would love to cover every topic, it isn't always possible.

Many thanks
OpenLearn Moderator

Publication details

Originally published: Thursday, 7th July 2011
Last updated on: Sunday, 29th April 2012

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Image 'Story of Electricity main' - Copyright: BBC

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