MICHAEL FARADAY: BIOGRAPHY, EXPERIMENTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS - SCIENCE - 2025

Michael Faraday (Newington Butt, September 22, 1791 - Hampton Court, August 25, 1867) was a physicist and chemist of British origin whose main contributions are in the areas of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Among his contributions to science, and therefore to humanity, we can highlight his work on electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis.

Due to the economic conditions of his family, Faraday received little formal education, so from the age of fourteen he was responsible for filling these gaps by doing a large amount of readings during his apprenticeship as a bookbinder.

One of the books he bound and that most influenced the scientist was The Improvement of the Mind by Isaac Watts.

Faraday was an excellent experimenter and conveyed his findings in easy-to-understand language. Although his mathematical abilities were not the best, James Clerk Maxwell summarized his work and that of others in a group of equations.

In the words of Clerk Maxwell: "The use of the lines of force shows that Faraday was indeed a great mathematician, from whom future mathematicians could derive valuable and fertile methods."

The unit of electrical capacity of the International System of Units (SI) is called Farad (F) in his honor.

As a chemist, Faraday discovered benzene, conducted research on chlorine clathrate, the oxidation number system, and created what would become known as the predecessor of the Bunsen burner. In addition, he popularized the terms: anode, cathode, electron and ion.

In the area of ​​physics, his research and experiments focused on electricity and electromagnetism.

His study of the magnetic field was fundamental for the development of the concept of electromagnetic field and his invention, named by himself as "Electromagnetic Rotation Devices", were the precursors of the current electric motor.

Biography

Michael Faraday was born on September 22, 1791, in a neighborhood called Newington Butt, located south of London, in England. His family was not wealthy, so his formal education was not very extensive.

Michael's father was named James and he was a practitioner of a doctrine of Christianity. For her part, her mother's name was Margaret Hastwell and before marrying James she worked as a domestic worker. Michael had 3 siblings, and was the penultimate of the marriage's children.

When Michael was fourteen years old he worked alongside George Riebau, who was a bookseller and bookbinder. Michael remained in this work for seven years, during which time he was able to get much closer to reading.

At this time he began to be attracted to scientific phenomena, especially those related to electricity.

Deepening of training

At the age of 20, in 1812, Michael began to attend different conferences, almost always invited by William Dance, an English musician who had founded the Royal Philharmonic Society.

Some of the speakers to whom Michael had access were John Tatum, a British philosopher and scientist, and Humphry Davy, a chemist of English origin.

Relationship with Humphry Davy

Michael Faraday was a very methodical man and wrote quite specific notes that he sent to Davy along with a note asking for a job.

These notes made up a book of about 300 pages and Davy liked them very much. The latter suffered an accident in the laboratory some time later, which severely damaged his vision.

In this context, Davy hired Faraday as his assistant. At the same time - on March 1, 1813 - Faraday became a chemistry assistant at the Royal Institution.

Trip to Europe

Between 1813 and 1815 Humphry Davy traveled through various countries in Europe. The servant he had at that time decided not to attend the trip, so Faraday was the one who had to fulfill the servant's tasks, even though his function was that of a chemical assistant.

It is said that English society at that time was extremely class-oriented, which is why Faraday was seen as a man with inferior characteristics.

Even Davy's wife insisted on treating Faraday like a servant, refusing to receive him in her carriage or have him eat with them.

Although this trip meant a very bad time for Faraday as a result of the unfavorable treatment he received, at the same time it implied that he could have direct contact with the most important scientific and academic fields in Europe.

Dedication to electricity

As early as 1821 Michael Faraday devoted himself entirely to studying electricity, magnetism and the possibilities of both elements.

In 1825 Davy was seriously ill, which is why Faraday became his replacement within the laboratory. This was the time when he proposed several of his theories.

One of the most relevant was the notion that both electricity and magnetism and light functioned as a triad with a unified character.

In that same year, Faraday began lectures at the Royal Institution, called Royal Institution's Christmas Lectures, which were aimed especially at children and dealt with the most important scientific advances of the time, as well as different anecdotes and stories from the field of science.

The intention of these talks was to bring science closer to those children who did not have the opportunity to attend formal studies, as it happened to him.

Marriage

In 1821 Faraday married Sarah Barnard. Their families attended the same church and it was there that they met.

Faraday was a very religious man throughout his life and was a follower of the Sandemaniana church, which was derived from the Church of Scotland. He participated actively in his church, since he became a deacon and even a priest for two years in a row.

No children were born from the marriage between Faraday and Barnard.

Years of inventions

Faraday's next years were full of inventions and experiments. In 1823 he discovered the process of liquefaction of chlorine (change from the gaseous or solid state to the liquid state) and two years later, in 1825, he discovered the same process but for benzene.

In 1831 Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction, from which the so-called Faraday's Law or Law of electromagnetic induction was generated. A year later, in 1832, he received the honorary appointment of D octor of civil law from the University of Oxford.

Four years later Faraday discovered a mechanism that functioned as a protective box for electric shocks. This box was called the Faraday cage and later became one of the most widely used inventions, even today.

In 1845 he discovered the effect that reflects a clear interaction between light and magnetism; this effect was called the Faraday Effect.

Recognitions

The monarchy of England offered Faraday the appointment of sir, to which he refused several times, considering it contrary to his religious beliefs; Faraday associated this appointment with the search for recognition and with vanity.

The Royal Society also proposed that he be its president and Faraday rejected this offer, made on two different occasions.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences appointed him a foreign member in 1838. A year later Faraday suffered a nervous breakdown; after a short period, he continued his studies.

In 1844, the French Academy of Sciences incorporated it into its foreign members, which were only 8 personalities.

Final years

In 1848 Michael Faraday obtained a house of grace and favor, which were those houses that belonged to the English state and were offered free of charge to those relevant personalities of the country, with the intention of giving thanks for the services rendered to the nation.

This house was in Middlesex, in Hampton Court, and Faraday lived in it from 1858. It was in that house that he later died.

During these years the government of England contacted him and asked him to support them in the process of making chemical weapons in the framework of the Crimean War, which took place between 1853 and 1856. Faraday refused to this offer, given that it considered unethical to participate in that process.

Death

Michael Faraday died on August 25, 1867, when he was 75 years old. A curious anecdote of this moment is that he was offered a burial site in the renowned Westminster Abbey, a site that he declined.

However, inside this church you can find a plaque that honors Faraday and is located near the grave of Isaac Newton. His body lies in the dissenting area of ​​Highgate Cemetery.

Experiments

Michael Faraday's life was full of inventions and experimentations. Next we will detail two of the most important experiments that he carried out and that were transcendent for humanity.

Faraday's Law

To demonstrate the so-called Faraday's Law or Law of electromagnetic induction, Michael Faraday took a cardboard in the form of a tube to which he wound insulated wire; in this way he formed a coil.

Subsequently, he took the coil and connected it with a voltmeter to measure the induced electromotive force while making a magnet pass through the coil.

As a consequence of this experiment, Faraday determined that a magnet at rest is not capable of generating electromotive force, although being at rest it does generate a high magnetic field. This is reflected in the fact that, through the coil, the flux does not vary.

As the magnet approaches the coil, the magnetic flux increases rapidly until the magnet is effectively inside the coil. Once the magnet has passed through the coil, this flux drops.

Faraday cage

The Faraday cage was the structure through which this scientist managed to protect elements from electrical discharges.

Faraday carried out this experiment in 1836, realizing that the excess charge of a conductor affected what was outside of it and not what was enclosed by said conductor.

In order to demonstrate this, Faraday lined the walls of a room with aluminum foil and generated high-voltage discharges through an electrostatic generator outside the room.

Thanks to the verification with an electroscope, Faraday was able to verify that, indeed, there were no electrical charges of any kind inside the room.

This principle can be observed today in cables and scanners, and there are other objects that, in themselves, act as Faraday cages, such as cars, elevators or even airplanes.

Main contributions

Construction of "electromagnetic rotation" devices

After the Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetism, Humphry Davy and William Hyde Wollaston tried and failed to design an electric motor.

Faraday, after arguing with the two scientists about this, managed to create two devices that led to what he called "electromagnetic rotation."

One of these devices, currently known as a "homopolar motor", generated a continuous circular motion, which was produced by the circular magnetic force around a wire, which extended to a mercury container with a magnet inside. By supplying current to the wire with a chemical battery, it would rotate around the magnet.

This experiment provided the basis for modern electromagnetic theory. Such was Faraday's excitement after this discovery that he published the results without consulting Wollaston or Davy, resulting in controversy within the Royal Society and Faraday's assignment to activities other than electromagnetism.

Gas liquefaction and refrigeration (1823)

Based on the theory of John Dalton, in which he stated that all gases could be brought to a liquid state, Faraday demonstrated the veracity of this theory through an experiment, in addition to having assumed the bases with which modern refrigerators and freezers work.

By liquefying or liquefying (increasing the pressure and decreasing the temperature of the gases) of chlorine and ammonia in the gaseous state, Faraday managed to bring these substances into a liquid state, which had been considered "permanent gaseous state".

In addition, he managed to return the ammonia to its gaseous state, observing that during this process cooling was generated.

This discovery demonstrated that a mechanical pump could transform a gas at room temperature into a liquid, produce cooling by returning to its gaseous state, and be compressed into a liquid again.

Discovery of benzene (1825)

Faraday discovered the benzene molecule by having isolated and identified it from an oily residue, derived from the production of lighting gas, to which he gave the name "Bicarburet of hydrogen".

Assuming this discovery an important achievement of chemistry, due to the practical applications of benzene.

Discovery of electromagnetic induction (1831)

Electromagnetic induction was Faraday's great discovery, which he achieved by connecting two wire solenoids around opposite ends of an iron ring.

Faraday connected one solenoid to a galvanometer and watched it connect and disconnect the other from the battery.

By disconnecting and connecting the solenoid, he was able to observe that when he passed current through one solenoid, another current was temporarily induced in the other.

The cause of this induction is due to the change in magnetic flux that occurred when disconnecting and connecting the battery.

This experiment is now known as "mutual induction," which occurs when the change of current in one inductor induces a voltage in another nearby inductor. This is the mechanism by which transformers work.

Laws of Electrolysis (1834)

Michael Faraday was also one of the main creators of the science of electrochemistry, the science responsible for creating the batteries currently used by mobile devices.

While conducting research on the nature of electricity, Faraday formulated his two laws of electrolysis.

The first of these states that the amount of substance deposited on each electrode of an electrolytic cell is directly proportional to the amount of electricity that passes through the cell.

The second of these laws states that the amounts of different elements deposited by a given amount of electricity are in the proportion of their equivalent chemical weight.

Discovery of the Faraday effect (1845)

Also known as Faraday rotation, this effect is a magnetic-optical phenomenon, which is the interaction between light and a magnetic field in a medium.

The Faraday effect causes the rotation of a plane of polarization, which is linearly proportional to the component of the magnetic field in the direction of propagation.

Faraday firmly believed that light was an electromagnetic phenomenon and that it must therefore be affected by electromagnetic forces.

So, after a series of unsuccessful trials, he went on to test a piece of solid glass containing traces of lead, which he made in his glass-making days.

In this way he observed that when a polarized ray of light passed through the glass, in the direction of a magnetic force, the polarized light rotated at an angle proportional to the strength of the magnetic field.

He then tested this with different solids, liquids, and gases by getting stronger electromagnets.

Discovery of diamagnetism (1845)

Faraday discovered that all materials have a weak repulsion towards magnetic fields, which he called diamagnetism.

That is, they create an induced magnetic field in the opposite direction to an externally applied magnetic field, being repelled by the applied magnetic field.

He also discovered that paramagnetic materials behave in the opposite way, being attracted by an applied external magnetic field.

Faraday showed that this property (diamagnetic or paramagnetic) is present in all substances. Diamagnetism induced with extra strong magnets can be used to produce levitation.

References

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5. Faraday's laws of electrolysis. (2017, June 4). Recovered from en.wikipedia.org.
6. Faraday cage. (2017, June 8). Recovered from en.wikipedia.org.
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