Deep Dive Historical Response to Veritasium’s DC Electricity Video

In this video I use the history of electricity to respectively disagree with Derek Muller's physics puzzle on what happens in a DC circuit.

Feynman's Lecture on the Poynting Vector:

Videos Used In this Video:

LINKS for Kathy:

[Kathy_Loves_Physics]

I thought this pinned comment could be a good place for people to add (respectfully) things in history and physics that you think I made mistakes on or need more clarification. Please nothing about sound quality or other superficials in this thread. Let me start: I wish I had added that when a battery is in a circuit the chemicals take a while to react, so that the electric potential difference from the charge distribution Delta V is less than the emf, or the chemical potential energy per charge. The equation becomes Delta V = emf - ir, where i is the current and "r" is the internal resistance. This is why a battery heats up when you have a lot of current flowing through it. 11

[philoso]

Excellent comment, Kelly, you have pull this out of my lips - “real science makes you think and pseudo science makes you obey”.

[esra_erimez]

AlphaPhoenix actually tried to do Derek's experiment practically titled "I bought 1000 meters of wire to settle a physics debate"

[WJV]

When I was studying Electrical Engineering in the early 1960's we first studied DC and Steady State AC circuits at lower frequencies. Then later we took a class in Transient Circuits and that introduced the concepts of electromagnetic waves and high speed transient effects of electrical conductors, spacing, conductor geometry, electric fields, magnetic fields and high frequency effects on circuits. Then we studied transmission lines, waves and antennas which then lead to Smith Charts and impedance matching and wave lengths, etc. I think what got Vertasium confused was conflating the 'transient' charge effects with the 'steady state' current/energy flow. Certainly an oscilloscope will see a 'pulse' of electric charge after the switch is closed but the light bulb required steady flow of electrons to create an (I^2 x R) energy flow to heat the filament and then create the light energy. Those two events don't happen at the same time. If all we wanted was to create an electromagnetic pulse then our house wiring could use hollow copper wires or 'wave guides' as microwave antennas us to move electromagnetic pulses around the house. However we need electrical energy to continuously flow to light bulbs and move motors, etc. so we must use 12 Gauge wire to move 20 amperes of current in a continuous manner to move energy without overheating the wire as the National Electric Code requires for all houses. The center of the wire as well as the outer part of wire all matter when you are transmitting DC or 60 Hz AC current flow to light bulbs, appliances, motors, etc. Of course if you are transmitting megahertz frequency signals to an antenna then the rules change but that is a different matter as I studied in college. Thanks Kathy for helping clear up the differences in electrical concepts of current flow.

[the.original.throwback]

This is the peer review process in action. Love it.

[stefanjohansson]

I was one of those electrical engineers that reacted to Veritasium's video in a manner that can be best described as "wait a minute, that explains nothing".
It's true that an electromagnetic wave needs no conductor, but DC current most certainly does.
A lot of debunking of this has been going on since, and lots of good ones at that, so i won't go in to more detail here, but just saying that an explanation with the transmission-line model would have made perfect sense, and that the DC (battery) was a really bad example.
I can see that you have been thinking both long and hard about this, and your result is excellent!
What bugged me most about Veritasium's claim was the headline "electricity doesn't flow in the wire", well how else can you explain DC current?
I'm really looking forward to more of your video's since i find that the historic connection is giving me a firm foothold of understanding, it makes me more grounded, so to speak. (pun intended) :-).

[punditgi]

Kathy is electrifying and totally awesome! No shock there. She illuminates this topic beautifully. ❤🎉😊

[craigtevis]

Alpha Phoenix just posted a video where he measured voltage at multiple points along a wire. His animation of those voltages wonderfully shows the flow of electricity through a wire after a switch is closed.

[stevewitman]

Love these videos!. Earlier today, AlphaPhoenix put out a video called "Watch electricity hit a fork in the road at half a billion frames per second" with some interesting observations and visualizations on DC electricity.

[reluginbuhl]

Part II about Feynman: I believe that he was speaking to religious zealots and other crackpots who are eternal science deniers. He was NOT claiming that you can't explain things to children. I do think you have misinterpreted his words.

[billheffley]

Veritasium is often off the wall and somewhere out in left field for fake shock effects. People in YT just to grab a mega audience and make money doing so. You rock, Kathy. The truth wins.

[luizcoelho]

Eric L Michelsen touched the right point. I suggest reading Oleg D. Jefimenko’s Electricity and Magnetism, topic 9-5. Displacement Field and Static Charge in Current-Carrying Conductors for clarifications about the static fields in conductors when steady current densities are present.
Jackson’s 1996 paper indicates this when saying: “With the early notable exception of Jefimenko’s book, intermediate or advanced texts are no better”.

[karmageddon]

Another very good response to Veritasium's videos. One of Derek's reasons to make the original video was to spark discussion.
I think you misinterpretted Richard Feyman's comment about keeping it simple.
Einstein once said "God does not play dice" The response was "Eistein, you cannot tell God how to make the rules".
One of Feynman's strengths was, "if at first you don't understand what you are looking at, then don't say physics doesn't make sense. Try looking at it differently till it does ".

[thomassynths]

I think Feynman's quote to be one not about education but one about the scientific community. I like this take quite a lot. To me it's in the same vein as Tyson's "The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you"

[drbuckley]

I have to go with science, which is why I assiduously follow your channel. You're a hero.

[scottbrown]

I thought seriously. about creating lots of new accounts so I could like this video a bunch more times... Kathy, thank you so much, I still have tears on my face because of your kindness and humility, not to mention all of your hard work.

[kennethsanders]

...and I think I can reconcile two of my favorite science educators in my mind. Feynman frequently tried to be dramatic in order to engage his listeners and at heart is a theoretical physicist. Kathy is, at heart, a teacher, and to you, it is the teaching and communicating. Feynman wants the student to already have a complete grasp deep within maths. Kathy, is happy to explain in simpler terms. I like Feynman. I love Kathy. I have Feynman's lectures. I watch and re-watch Kathy's YouTube stuff to refresh my mind and reeducate myself for all the stuff I forget or forgot. Thank you, Kathy, for making me very happy. Thank you, Richard, for your contributions to science, too.

[joecliffordson]

Kathy. I just found your videos. I like learning from passionate women and I like your teaching style. Many thanks.

[EmblemParade]

The fact that people are STILL posting responses to that video gives me faith in humanity. I watch them all and every one teaches me something new, a slightly different perspective for thinking of how electricity works. Great one from Kathy here, with an illuminating historical perspective. For all the problems of that original video, hats off to Derek for pushing many of us to look beyond the elementary school depictions of electricity.

[hatpeach]

Thanks; I was very confused by the Veritasium video which I was never able to digest. AlphaPhoenix just posted a series of videos that made much more sense in which he modeled charge as waves as it moves through wires. It struck me as logical and well presented, and so is a strong recommend.