Selects: How Electricity Works

It is literally all around you (and even inside you) - electricity makes up the basis of modern life. But what exactly is electricity and how does it work? In this classic episode, Josh and Chuck chase away the darkness and explain electricity in their usual electrifying way. See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.

• 0:04Josh Clark?

  Buy smart, drive for less and trade for more. That's Toyota Ford ability and it starts with a great deal on an off-road ready Tacoma or half ton Tundra, two of Toyota's longest lasting trucks, combining power for work, tech for adventures and style in between. And they're built on a reputation for quality and reliability, which is why Toyota trucks are known for holding their value, which could mean big savings when it's time for your next Toyota. So get a great deal today and a great value tomorrow. Shop toyota.com for more. Toyota, let's go places. Curious people ask great questions and here's one. What's something you wish there was an app for? Well, with base 44, you can build it yourself. Maybe it's a tool to organize a project or track a hobby or share knowledge, solve a problem that's always bugged you.

• 0:49Josh Clark?

  Just describe what you want in your own words, no coding required. Base 44 handles the database, login, backend and hosting. Try it for free. Go to base44.com to get started. Hey everybody, it's Josh and for this week's select, I've chosen our 2014 episode on electricity. And I chose it as a kind of Casey Kasem-esque special dedication to one of our younger listeners, Charlie Pendergrass, who wrote in with a bunch of good ideas, one of which was electricity. Well, rather than just send him a link and being boring, I thought I'd share it as a select for everybody to enjoy. So if you enjoy this select, you can thank Charlie. Thanks, Charlie.

• 1:35Speaker 00

  Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio.

• 1:45Josh Clark?

  Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W., Chuck Bryant, Jerry's over there. Chuck's wearing his Last Chance Garage hat, which means that all is right with the world.

• 1:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:55Josh Clark?

  You know, if Chuck's not wearing that hat, who knows what's going on?

• 1:59Speaker 02

  Yeah. There's, I thought I lost this thing.

• 2:02Josh Clark?

  Oh, yeah.

• 2:03Speaker 02

  Once, yeah.

• 2:04Josh Clark?

  I think I vaguely remember that.

• 2:06Speaker 02

  Dude, I freaked.

• 2:06Josh Clark?

  I was like, I'm the horn.

• 2:07Speaker 02

  You were crying. I was on the phone with Delta and everything. I was like, oh, here it is.

• 2:12Speaker 02

  It's on my head.

• 2:12Josh Clark?

  In your back pocket, like Bruce Springsteen.

• 2:15Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 2:16Josh Clark?

  Uh, how you doing?

• 2:18Speaker 02

  Great.

• 2:18Josh Clark?

  Um, Chuck?

• 2:19Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 2:20Josh Clark?

  Let's talk about electricity.

• 2:21Speaker 02

  Electricity, electricity.

• 2:24Josh Clark?

  I've had the Talking Heads song in my head.

• 2:27Speaker 02

  Which one?

• 2:28Josh Clark?

  Electricity?

• 2:29Speaker 02

  Oh, okay.

• 2:29Josh Clark?

  Where all he sees are little dots.

• 2:31Speaker 02

  I thought you were gonna say Once in a Lifetime.

• 2:33Josh Clark?

  No, that's... What is that called? Once in a Lifetime?

• 2:36Speaker 02

  Yeah. Uh, yeah, I've been singing the, um, Schoolhouse Rock electricity song over and over in my head.

• 2:43Josh Clark?

  What about the Electric Company theme song?

• 2:46Speaker 02

  Hmm, I haven't been singing that.

• 2:48Josh Clark?

  But do you remember it?

• 2:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, that was, I was Electric Company over Sesame Street even.

• 2:54Josh Clark?

  Oh, yeah, I didn't think there had to be like a, you know, I didn't know it was like the Stones or the Beatles, you know?

• 2:59Speaker 02

  No, it's, uh, and the correct answer there is The Who, by the way.

• 3:04Josh Clark?

  What do you mean? Like, that's the one you go for?

• 3:07Speaker 02

  The Who.

• 3:07Josh Clark?

  Is that right?

• 3:08Speaker 02

  No, I mean, I, yeah, I love The Who.

• 3:10Josh Clark?

  Do you?

• 3:11Speaker 02

  But I, I'm with you, I don't see the need to rank things like that.

• 3:16Josh Clark?

  Well, plus, the Electric Company came on after Sesame Street, I think.

• 3:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, it skewed slightly older, I think. Sesame Street, to me, felt like, uh, you know, six, seven, eight-year-olds. Electric Company's more like eight, nine, ten, twelve.

• 3:28Josh Clark?

  And then even younger than Sesame Street was Pinwheel, if I remember correctly. That was after your time.

• 3:34Speaker 02

  Oh, okay.

• 3:34Josh Clark?

  Pinwheel was pretty cute. But it was like, little kids, and then Sesame Street was like, little kids, and then Electric Company was like, cool.

• 3:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, and Romper Room was kinda pre-Sesame Street even.

• 3:44Josh Clark?

  So, was that the one with Raggedy Ann and Andy?

• 3:47Speaker 02

  Hmm, I don't remember. I just remember it was, it was very immature.

• 3:51Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 3:52Speaker 02

  It was very childish.

• 3:53Josh Clark?

  I think Raggedy Ann and Andy were in that. Well, at any rate, we've angered enough people now.

• 3:57Speaker 02

  I know.

• 3:57Josh Clark?

  Uh, I have an intro for this one.

• 4:00Speaker 02

  Great.

• 4:00Josh Clark?

  Okay, you ready?

• 4:01Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 4:02Josh Clark?

  About 13.8 billion years ago, a little something called the Big Bang happened, and the universe was created.

• 4:11Speaker 02

  So says you.

• 4:12Josh Clark?

  So says a lot of people.

• 4:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:13Josh Clark?

  You know, uh, we weren't around, nobody saw it, but it's been detected, and it's strongly suspected by scientists that the universe is 13.8 billion years old, and that it came from something called the Big Bang, which, by the way, I would love to do an episode on.

• 4:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, let's do it.

• 4:32Josh Clark?

  Okay.

• 4:34Josh Clark?

  And under the auspices of the Big Bang Theory, not the TV show, but the actual theory.

• 4:39Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:40Josh Clark?

  Um, at that moment, all of the energy in the entire universe was created right then.

• 4:47Speaker 02

  Boom.

• 4:47Josh Clark?

  Bam. Ever since that point, the energy has, no more energy has been created. And none of that energy has been destroyed, but it changes states, it changes shapes, it can be locked up in different, um, places. It can be transferred from one place to another via some natural ways, like convection, conduction, radiation.

• 5:08Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:08Josh Clark?

  Um, and like I said, it can be stored and stuff, like it can be stored in your body, right? Fat is potential energy that can be burned and used for energy to carry out work.

• 5:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:20Josh Clark?

  Which is, all we're looking to do is work.

• 5:23Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 5:23Josh Clark?

  We use energy to carry out work, whether it's digging a shovel or lighting a light bulb. That's what energy does. It produces work, right?

• 5:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:31Josh Clark?

  Okay, um, we've figured out along the way that we don't have to wait around for radiation or convection or conduction to do its thing to provide energy. Because we'd have a lot of waiting to do.

• 5:46Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:46Josh Clark?

  We wouldn't be in the computer age right now if it weren't for something called electricity.

• 5:50Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:51Josh Clark?

  Which is basically how humans have figured out how to harness converting energy from one type of another and then transmitting it a very long distance.

• 6:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:02Josh Clark?

  Because electricity isn't a primary energy source like the sun or solar radiation or nuclear energy or even the flow of water, kinetic energy.

• 6:12Speaker 02

  No, it's created.

• 6:13Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it's an, it's a secondary energy source. It's a carrier.

• 6:16Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 6:17Josh Clark?

  So, it, electricity carries energy from one point to another. And if you understand that, you understand the very basis of what we're gonna talk about today.

• 6:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:29Josh Clark?

  Like, we've figured out how to generate electricity to carry energy to produce work down the line.

• 6:36Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 6:37Josh Clark?

  That's my answer.

• 6:38Speaker 02

  Which is usually mechanical energy is what's produced.

• 6:42Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 6:43Speaker 02

  By a machine.

• 6:43Josh Clark?

  Yeah, so think about this, like if you capture mechanical energy, like water spinning a turbine, which we'll talk about.

• 6:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:51Josh Clark?

  In Niagara Falls, that's not gonna do anything to light your light bulb 200 miles away.

• 6:58Speaker 02

  No, not by itself.

• 6:59Josh Clark?

  No, unless you connect the two. You send the work produced, the energy captured in Niagara Falls down to your light bulb. And that's what we do, using electricity.

• 7:11Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 7:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's pretty simple, actually. It seems complicated, but it's not.

• 7:18Josh Clark?

  No.

• 7:18Speaker 02

  Just electrons moving around.

• 7:20Josh Clark?

  Yeah, let's talk about electrons, man. Let's talk about the atom.

• 7:24Speaker 02

  Well, should we talk about the history of this stuff?

• 7:25Josh Clark?

  Yes, let's.

• 7:28Speaker 02

  Back in the olden days, in ancient times, there were dudes messing around with with energy and static electricity without even knowing what they were doing.

• 7:40Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 7:40Speaker 02

  They didn't understand it, but it doesn't mean that they weren't playing around with it.

• 7:44Josh Clark?

  No, and getting zapped because they're messing with static electricity.

• 7:48Speaker 02

  That's right, which we'll explain all that later, too. But there was one dude called Thales of Miletus. He was a philosopher in Greece. And in 600 B.C., he is thought to have been the first dude to mess around with electrostatics, static electricity, by rubbing amber with fur, and he noticed that dust and feathers and things were attracted to it. He didn't know what the heck was going on, but he knew something was up.

• 8:14Josh Clark?

  Right, and that amber plays a pretty big role. It's actually amber, the Latin or, I'm sorry, is it Greek?

• 8:21Speaker 02

  Greek.

• 8:21Josh Clark?

  The Greek word for amber is electron.

• 8:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, with a K.

• 8:25Josh Clark?

  Yeah, that was like their little...

• 8:27Speaker 02

  Makes it look way heavy metal.

• 8:28Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 8:28Speaker 02

  You know?

• 8:28Josh Clark?

  But that's, so like, our word electricity is derived from the Greek word for amber, from that first experiment with static electricity.

• 8:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, and it was actually coined by a dude named William Gilbert. He was an Englishman, a physician, and he was studying sort of the same things with static electricity that Miletus was, and he was the first person to say it's electric when he saw these forces at work.

• 8:54Josh Clark?

  With an exclamation point and his finger in the air.

• 8:57Speaker 02

  Probably so, yeah.

• 8:58Josh Clark?

  And we should probably differentiate. There's a couple of types of electricity. There's static electricity and then there's current electricity, right? And current electricity is what we are able to generate artificially. Static electricity exists in nature, just naturally.

• 9:15Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 9:16Josh Clark?

  And that was the first experiments carried out. Then there's other types of current electricity like lightning. But at this time, when these people are messing with electric or static electricity or saying it's electric for the first time.

• 9:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:29Josh Clark?

  The concept of electricity was that it was fluid.

• 9:33Speaker 02

  Well, it was fluid. He was on the right track. Something is flowing, but they thought it was literally a fluid.

• 9:41Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 9:41Speaker 02

  Which they called, in those days it was called a humor. And he said it leaves, what he called then, an effluvium? Effluvium.

• 9:51Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 9:51Speaker 02

  Which is atmosphere around it. When you create this rubbing action, it removes that fluid.

• 9:56Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 9:57Speaker 02

  But it wasn't fluid. They were not dummies back then, but they were just figuring it all out.

• 10:02Josh Clark?

  No, they weren't dummies because even Ben Franklin thought it was a fluid. It was the prevailing idea or concept of electricity. And Ben Franklin and a couple of his contemporaries, including a guy named Thomas Francois de Lébarde, were studying electricity big time. And it was when they really investigated lightning that our understanding of current electricity started to take shape.

• 10:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, the old story of Ben Franklin flying his kite may or may not have happened. There are some people that think that didn't happen now.

• 10:38Josh Clark?

  If he didn't do it, other people did. There were guys who died carrying out that experiment.

• 10:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, but the old-

• 10:45Josh Clark?

  It was definitely carried out. I don't know if Ben Franklin did or not.

• 10:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's sort of the story, that he flew the kite with the key. And some people think it either didn't go down like that or didn't go down with him at all.

• 10:56Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 10:57Speaker 02

  But it's a great story either way.

• 10:58Josh Clark?

  Yeah, and I think he at least proposed it, the experiment.

• 11:03Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, and he was the first guy to say that electricity has a positive and negative charge and that it flows from positive to negative. So he's a smart guy.

• 11:11Josh Clark?

  Very smart. He's a polymath.

• 11:13Speaker 02

  Then there was another smart dude named Coulomb, Charles Augustin de Coulomb. And he is the one that- Wrote Coulomb's law and he said, "Charges, like charges repel, opposite charges attract." And that's kind of like the basis for it all.

• 11:30Josh Clark?

  Yeah, and the force of these charges is proportional to their product. So if you multiply the charges, they are going to be very strong or cancel one another out or push one another away.

• 11:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, he basically said, "You can now calculate this."

• 11:45Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 11:46Speaker 02

  Because of my handy dandy little law.

• 11:48Josh Clark?

  Yeah, and with a boom. He said boom.

• 11:51Speaker 02

  Not bang.

• 11:52Josh Clark?

  Okay. That came earlier.

• 11:55Speaker 02

  Later on, a guy named J.J. Thompson in 1897 said at a science conference, "Hey, I found something smaller than the atom." And everyone said, "Silly man, atoms are invisible. It even means invisible."

• 12:11Josh Clark?

  You liar.

• 12:13Speaker 02

  And he said, "No, I promise. There's something smaller. It's got a negative charge and I'm gonna call it a corpuscle."

• 12:18Josh Clark?

  No, he didn't.

• 12:19Speaker 02

  Yeah. It's Latin for small bodies. And then I think, I don't know who later said, "Let's change it to electron."

• 12:25Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it sounds way cooler.

• 12:27Speaker 02

  But the discovery of the electron was basically the birth of what we know as electricity today.

• 12:34Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 12:34Speaker 02

  The understanding of the electron is what it's all about.

• 12:37Josh Clark?

  And what'd you say, like 1897?

• 12:39Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 12:40Josh Clark?

  So before that time, I guess he didn't understand the electron, but he understood electricity. A guy named Michael Faraday was working on the case.

• 12:50Speaker 02

  Stud.

• 12:51Josh Clark?

  Yeah, basically, everybody's like, Ben Franklin, electricity, hand in hand. Really, it's Michael Faraday, who's British, who really came to lay the foundation for electrifying the world. He just, he created the first dynamo, which is a generator, which we'll talk about. He-

• 13:11Speaker 02

  First electric motor?

• 13:12Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 13:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 13:13Josh Clark?

  He just, he got electricity and he-

• 13:17Josh Clark?

  Explained it to other people very well.

• 13:19Speaker 02

  Can you even fathom how smart these people were? To be that in the dark and figuring all this subatomic stuff out?

• 13:27Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 13:27Speaker 02

  Back then?

• 13:28Josh Clark?

  Hats off, top hats off to these guys.

• 13:30Speaker 02

  Last Chance Garage hat off.

• 13:31Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 13:32Speaker 02

  And back on.

• 13:33Josh Clark?

  Like, I have trouble understanding it now.

• 13:36Speaker 02

  Right.

• 13:36Josh Clark?

  When it's explained through like, kids for science websites, you know?

• 13:40Speaker 02

  I know, we're not inventing this, figuring this stuff out for the first time.

• 13:42Josh Clark?

  Right, exactly.

• 13:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 13:43Josh Clark?

  And it's a pretty dangerous field to try to figure out blind, too, you know?

• 13:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, more than one scientist got a shock from a Leyden jar.

• 13:51Josh Clark?

  Oh, yeah.

• 13:52Speaker 02

  And you can make those. Did you make those in science class?

• 13:54Josh Clark?

  No.

• 13:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, you can make those.

• 13:56Josh Clark?

  Well, it's, we should say, a Leyden jar is a very primitive capacitor. You use a metal rod in a jar.

• 14:02Speaker 02

  Like a nail.

• 14:02Josh Clark?

  That's sunk into like, some water.

• 14:04Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 14:05Josh Clark?

  And it can store a charge.

• 14:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:07Josh Clark?

  And I think Ben Franklin's kite experiment attached the kite to, or a rod or something, to a Leyden jar to store the charge, too.

• 14:15Speaker 02

  If that happened.

• 14:17Josh Clark?

  Right. But again, he did make the proposal. It's whether or not he carried it out is a

• 14:21Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 14:22Josh Clark?

  Good question.

• 14:22Speaker 02

  All right, I guess now we can get to atoms.

• 14:24Josh Clark?

  Finally.

• 14:25Speaker 02

  Atoms are very tiny, and they make up molecules, and molecules make up everything you see.

• 14:31Josh Clark?

  Yeah, atoms are the building block of matter.

• 14:33Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 14:34Josh Clark?

  Um, and, and atom, remember we're always talking about nature loves homeostasis?

• 14:39Speaker 02

  Oh, man, does it.

• 14:41Josh Clark?

  It is, it does.

• 14:44Josh Clark?

  You've got a balance that nature always seeks.

• 14:48Speaker 02

  Tries to achieve it.

• 14:49Josh Clark?

  Same with atoms, or atoms are no exception, I should say. Uh, within an atom, you have a nucleus, which is made up of protons and neutrons.

• 14:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:58Josh Clark?

  Protons are positively charged particles, neutrons are neutral. And then orbiting that nucleus, making the cool atom symbol, are electrons. And they're negatively charged.

• 15:10Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 15:11Josh Clark?

  And when you have an equal number of protons

• 15:16Josh Clark?

  To electrons. You have a neutral atom.

• 15:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, there's no potential energy there. It's just in balance. And a lot of stuff is like that. A lot of stuff is in balance. Some stuff is not.

• 15:30Josh Clark?

  Well, some stuff falls out of balance easier than other stuff.

• 15:34Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, the electrons, sometimes they're super tightly bound to the atom and they don't want to leave the house.

• 15:40Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 15:41Speaker 02

  And they want to stick around. Sometimes they're crazy teenagers and the slightest energy and movement makes them jump off from the atom and just say, I want to go attach myself to something else.

• 15:53Josh Clark?

  They go on Rumspringa.

• 15:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:57Josh Clark?

  Yeah, and it depends on the material. And those types of material that have either tightly connected or loosely connected atoms either end up conducting electricity very well or don't conduct electricity very well. So they act as either electrical conductors or electrical insulators.

• 16:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, like if you pick up a stick off the ground, it's electrons like staying close to home. So it's not going to conduct electricity. If you pick up a metal rod, those electrons are crazy.

• 16:27Josh Clark?

  Loose.

• 16:28Speaker 02

  And they like to go off and do those things that teenage electrons do. And therefore it does conduct electricity.

• 16:35Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 16:35Speaker 02

  Very well.

• 16:36Josh Clark?

  Under normal circumstances, when you pick up that rod or you pick up that stick, the electrons are staying put no matter what. But we figured out along the way, thanks to the work of all of the people from the Greeks to Faraday to Ben Franklin to your guy with the Corpuzzle idea.

• 16:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:56Josh Clark?

  JJ, what's his name?

• 16:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, JJ.

• 16:58Josh Clark?

  JJ Corpuzzle.

• 17:00Speaker 02

  I think it was Thompson.

• 17:01Josh Clark?

  So thanks to the work of all of these people, we figured out how to knock electrons loose. And it's ingenious and simple, but it's also very complex. And it involves the relationship between magnetism and electricity.

• 17:28Speaker 02

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• 18:44Josh Clark?

  So Chuck.

• 18:44Speaker 02

  Yes?

• 18:45Josh Clark?

  We're talking about knocking electrons loose, which is ultimately the basis of producing electricity.

• 18:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, like when you were a kid in elementary school, you probably did the little balloon trick where you make static electricity and make the balloon stick to your sweater.

• 18:58Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 18:59Speaker 02

  All you're doing, you're rubbing that balloon on your sweater, and electrons are jumping from that balloon onto your sweater. And now there are two different charges going on because you're overcharged, the balloon is now undercharged, and because opposite charges attract, it sticks to your sweater.

• 19:16Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 19:16Speaker 02

  And that's static electricity.

• 19:18Josh Clark?

  And static, you know, you have static and dynamic, and dynamic indicates motion. Static indicates... Staying still, and they use that to describe this type of electricity because the electrons don't flow, they just sit there and wait for a connection. Like when you touch something that's charged, like a doorknob.

• 19:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:38Josh Clark?

  After you've shuffled with your feet in socks over carpet. When you touch that doorknob, you're forming that connection and all of a sudden the balance is achieved once more and the electrons flow.

• 19:48Speaker 02

  Like you're literally a conductor of electricity in that moment.

• 19:51Josh Clark?

  Right, so with current electricity, those electrons move, they move along a conductive material.

• 19:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:58Josh Clark?

  Say like copper wire or something like that.

• 20:00Speaker 02

  That's a hot one.

• 20:01Josh Clark?

  Right, so let's talk about how you produce an electrical current, right?

• 20:05Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 20:07Josh Clark?

  Let's talk about generators and turbines and all that awesome stuff.

• 20:10Speaker 02

  It sounds like you need to generate that electricity with a generator.

• 20:15Josh Clark?

  Right, I think that's what generators are called, why they're called that.

• 20:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's funny just how basic some of these things are, like you say a computor.

• 20:24Josh Clark?

  Right, but you've heard it so many times, you take it for granted and it loses its meaning.

• 20:29Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 20:29Josh Clark?

  It's like looking at a word too frequently.

• 20:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think a lot of these words are like that. Like a generator or a.

• 20:39Josh Clark?

  Corpuzzle.

• 20:40Speaker 02

  Or a, what's it called when you stop down the electricity, which we'll get to?

• 20:46Josh Clark?

  Transformer.

• 20:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, it transforms something, but you say them so much, you're like, what's a transformer do?

• 20:50Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 20:51Speaker 02

  You know?

• 20:51Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 20:52Speaker 02

  Anyway, I've been reading too much science for dumb things, I think. All right, so generators, well, I guess it all comes down to magnetism.

• 21:01Josh Clark?

  Yes.

• 21:02Speaker 02

  In the case of generators. And if you want to listen to two shows, Lightning and Magnetism, before this one, it might help you understand electricity a little bit more.

• 21:11Josh Clark?

  All right, so just go listen to those, we'll wait.

• 21:13Speaker 02

  I'll do that right now, we'll wait two hours.

• 21:15Josh Clark?

  So what I think Faraday figured out.

• 21:20Josh Clark?

  Was that because of this relationship between a magnet and electricity, you can take a magnet and you can move electrons in a, say, conductor material. You can knock the electrons loose, basically, using a magnet.

• 21:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's like what happens when you attract a paperclip to a magnet. It's just the transfer of electrons.

• 21:42Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 21:42Speaker 02

  Jumping around.

• 21:43Josh Clark?

  And you create a flow by flipping the polarity. And you can do this by rotating metal, right?

• 21:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:51Josh Clark?

  Say, like a coiled copper within the two poles of a large magnet. And when you do this, you're reversing polarity all of a sudden.

• 21:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:00Josh Clark?

  And you are knocking the electrons loose in those coils. And the way that you spin the coils very quickly is by hooking the coils to, say, a shaft.

• 22:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:16Josh Clark?

  We kind of did this backwards. Let's start at the beginning. You want to?

• 22:19Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 22:19Josh Clark?

  Okay. Let's go to Niagara Falls.

• 22:22Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 22:23Josh Clark?

  Back in 1895. George Westinghouse, who is Nikola Tesla's boss, which, by the way, if you want to listen to another really good podcast, go listen to that one.

• 22:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:36Josh Clark?

  The Nikola Tesla one.

• 22:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:38Josh Clark?

  Remember, it was all about the AC/DC war between Tesla and Edison?

• 22:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:42Josh Clark?

  Good episode.

• 22:43Speaker 02

  Killed shocking animals to death.

• 22:44Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it's pretty awful.

• 22:46Speaker 02

  What a jerk.

• 22:46Josh Clark?

  But in 1895, George Westinghouse set up a hydroelectric power plant along the Niagara Falls.

• 22:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:55Josh Clark?

  And what he did was he had a means of taking the movement of water, which is kinetic energy. The water at the top of the falls has potential energy, and then once it falls over, that potential turns to kinetic energy. Well, Westinghouse set up a turbine to catch this movement of water, right, which is actual energy. And have that movement spin a turbine, a propeller, a fan.

• 23:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's the same concept as an old grist mill.

• 23:24Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 23:24Speaker 02

  Except it's not creating energy, it's just moving the stones that grind the wheat or corn.

• 23:30Josh Clark?

  Right, the grist mill is.

• 23:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:31Josh Clark?

  In this case, it's capturing that energy.

• 23:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:34Josh Clark?

  By, or it's transferring it, we should say, by converting that kinetic energy from the water into mechanical energy, spinning the turbine. The turbine is connected to that shaft I was talking about where we suddenly changed course. And at the end of that shaft, which is now spinning, thanks to the turbine, thanks to the movement of the water.

• 23:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:53Josh Clark?

  Is some coiled copper, and that coiled copper is spinning within those two magnets.

• 23:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's the key.

• 23:58Josh Clark?

  Right, and because of that, the electrons are being knocked loose, you have a power line leading from the coiled copper out, and all of a sudden, you have an electric current.

• 24:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, and if you've ever been to the Hoover Dam or something, you don't have to have a waterfall or a river to make this thing work. If you, that's why they build dams, you stop up the water, and then at the base of the dam, you have the means to release that water, and then it becomes that flowing water.

• 24:25Josh Clark?

  Right, and then also, for thermal power plants, they use nuclear power to create a nuclear reaction to produce heat, or they burn coal to produce heat, and then they use that heat to heat water, and then they use that water to create steam, and then that steam turns a turbine.

• 24:43Speaker 02

  And these are all just different methods, whether it's solar, or steam, or nuclear. I almost said it. Which is weird, because I definitely don't say it that way.

• 24:53Josh Clark?

  Well, you were very excited.

• 24:55Speaker 02

  I think I've said it enough as a joke.

• 24:57Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 24:57Speaker 02

  That it slips in. But anyway, all those are just means to turn that turbine.

• 25:02Josh Clark?

  Right, and all it is, is you're using that stored energy.

• 25:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:07Josh Clark?

  Or that kinetic energy, like, over here, to create electricity, so that you can transfer it into work down the line.

• 25:15Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 25:16Josh Clark?

  It's so cool.

• 25:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, and this article, we used a few different articles for this one, like we said, including some Science for Kids websites, which, by the way, I highly recommend.

• 25:26Josh Clark?

  If you don't get something?

• 25:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's a great place to go visit, are these kids' websites, because they break it down, like, super simply. But in our article, it

• 25:36Speaker 02

  Describes a generator as if it was a water in a pump, which made a lot of sense to me. The generator is the pump, but instead of pushing water through a pipe, it's pushing electrons down a line, a power line.

• 25:53Josh Clark?

  And that whole, like, using water as an analogy for electricity fits very well.

• 26:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, but you need something to push it. It's not, it's not a self pusher. So you need that force, and that force is voltage.

• 26:07Josh Clark?

  Right, yeah.

• 26:08Speaker 02

  Electromotive force.

• 26:09Josh Clark?

  It's the same with water. Like, you have water pressure that forces the water down the line, right? And with electricity, you have a force that moves electricity and it's voltage. Like you said, measured in volts.

• 26:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:22Josh Clark?

  And the electrical current is measured in amps. And the amps represent the total number of electrons flowing through any one point of a circuit at any, every second. And there's a lot of them.

• 26:36Speaker 02

  And if you have voltage and you add that to current, which is amps, you get power, which is watts.

• 26:44Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 26:45Speaker 02

  And...

• 26:45Josh Clark?

  I think it's multiplied by it.

• 26:48Speaker 02

  Oh, really?

• 26:48Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it is.

• 26:50Speaker 02

  Okay. I wasn't even thinking of it as a math formula.

• 26:53Josh Clark?

  But it is. It is a math formula, and the reason why it's a math formula is because they're related. Like, you can flip-flop them, you can adjust them. And that's the whole basis of industrial power transmission, which we'll get to later.

• 27:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, and I know it sounds a little confusing with volts, amps, and watts, but they are all different. Like, if you said, you know, that guy was shocked and he had 120 volts coursing through his body, that's not true at all.

• 27:23Speaker 02

  Because the volt is the force, the amps, he's got, he's got amps coursing through his body.

• 27:27Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 27:28Speaker 02

  But you'd be a huge geek to point that out to someone, if someone said that.

• 27:32Josh Clark?

  And a good rule of thumb is, the higher the volts, the more dangerous the shock.

• 27:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:37Josh Clark?

  Which is why, in America, most outlets in homes are 2, are 120 volts. Where if you touch it, you're gonna feel it, but it's probably not gonna kill you.

• 27:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, in the United States, it's 120, but it's different in other countries.

• 27:52Josh Clark?

  Right, which is why, like, a European appliance can't be plugged into an American appliance, because...

• 27:58Speaker 02

  You gotta get those adapters.

• 27:59Josh Clark?

  Yep. So...

• 28:02Josh Clark?

  You were talking about current, which is the number of electrons flowing through a circuit. You have the volts, which is the force or pressure that's pushing them down the line. And then you have those two multiplied by one another to create watts, which is power.

• 28:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:22Josh Clark?

  You also, there's one, there's another factor to electrical currents.

• 28:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:29Josh Clark?

  And that is resistance.

• 28:31Speaker 02

  Oh yeah, we didn't talk about that. We acted like it was all either an insulator or conductor, but you can be a resistor.

• 28:38Josh Clark?

  Well, I mean, everything, everything has a certain level of resistance.

• 28:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, but if you're an official resistor, that means current moves, it just doesn't move like as fast as it might in metal.

• 28:47Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 28:48Speaker 02

  Or not at all, as in wood.

• 28:49Josh Clark?

  Yeah, or glass is another good resistor or insulator.

• 28:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:54Josh Clark?

  And so, so is rubber.

• 28:56Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 28:57Josh Clark?

  But even something as like, conductive as copper wire, has a certain amount of resistance. And again, that water flowing analogy comes into place. Like if you pump like some water really, really hard.

• 29:10Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 29:11Josh Clark?

  Tried to get a lot of water through a very small pipe, it's still not going to come out very high, very fast, because you're trying to force too much water through that, that little pipe.

• 29:22Speaker 02

  Right.

• 29:23Josh Clark?

  So, in the exact same way, a thin wire, where you're trying to push a lot of amps through, and a lot of volts through, it's going to resist. And when you, when you have resistance in an electrical circuit, you have, what, you lose some of those electrons that are flowing, in the form of heat, which is produced by electrons bumping up against other atoms that aren't sharing their, their electrons. And that's the result of friction.

• 29:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, and resistance is measured in ohms.

• 29:54Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 29:54Speaker 02

  O H M.

• 29:57Speaker 02

  Should we talk about circuits?

• 29:58Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 29:59Speaker 02

  Are we there?

• 29:59Josh Clark?

  I think so.

• 30:00Speaker 02

  So all this is well and good. That's, you know, you can supply power, and we'll talk about this more in detail, to, to homes from a power plant. But you can also have a little battery supplying that electrical energy to a iPhone, let's say.

• 30:18Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 30:18Speaker 02

  And in that case, you need something called a circuit, which is basically just a closed loop that allows the electrons to travel. And in most electronics, it's like, like you said, like copper wire, maybe. And it travels from, you know, there's a switch that turns it on and off, which is why a circuit is called a circuit breaker. Like, if you break that circuit by turning the switch off, or if the wire, like, snaps or something, it's gonna, no more electrons are gonna be flowing.

• 30:48Josh Clark?

  Right, because there's, and the reason they're not gonna be flowing any longer is because the positive pole and the negative pole from that circuit

• 30:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:56Josh Clark?

  are no longer connected.

• 30:57Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 30:58Josh Clark?

  Another way to look at voltage is that it is the difference between electrons on one side and electrons on another side of a circuit. And remember, we talked about nature always wanting balance?

• 31:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:11Josh Clark?

  Electrons flow from negative to positive, right?

• 31:16Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 31:17Josh Clark?

  And as they flow, the reason they're flowing, the whole reason they're moving at all, is because there are not as many electrons on the positive side as there are on the negative side.

• 31:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:27Josh Clark?

  So they wanna leave the negative side to go achieve balance on the positive side, and ultimately, make whatever circuit it's traveling neutral.

• 31:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:36Josh Clark?

  You stick something in that circuit, and as those electrons are moving from the negative side to the positive side, because again, electricity is just the flow of electrons.

• 31:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:46Josh Clark?

  You can convert that movement into productive work.

• 31:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, mechanical energy.

• 31:51Josh Clark?

  Right, and anything you attach onto a circuit to exploit that flow of electrons for work is called a load.

• 31:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, it could be a light bulb, or, you know, whatever. Whatever mechanical energy you're trying to create is your load.

• 32:04Josh Clark?

  Right, and there's all sorts of things you can do by attaching a load to a circuit, like a light bulb. A light bulb basically uses that electricity flow to

• 32:18Josh Clark?

  Flow into a resistant filament.

• 32:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:21Josh Clark?

  Very thin wire that purposely resists that flow of electricity, generating heat and in turn, heating up to produce light. That's how a light bulb works.

• 32:30Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:30Josh Clark?

  You can also recharge batteries, which go in and force electrons back into the negative position, so that the battery's recharged and those electrons are ready to flow again once you connect the circuit.

• 32:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:43Josh Clark?

  Um, there's also appliances that use resistors to produce heat, like a hair dryer.

• 32:48Speaker 02

  Right.

• 32:48Josh Clark?

  Or a toaster. There's all sorts of stuff you can do to connect into the circuit, but it's all the same, whether it's a battery, or a toaster, or a whole house if you want to look at it that way. It's, you're plugging a load onto an electrical circuit and exploiting the flow of electrons.

• 33:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, and I kind of misspoke a minute ago when I said it's creating the mechanical energy. You need a motor to actually do that. So.

• 33:14Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 33:14Speaker 02

  If you have an electric drill, that's great that you have electrons flowing, but it's not going to turn anything unless you have that motor. And an electric motor is basically just a cylinder stuffed with magnets around the edge. And if you've ever used an electric drill and you fire it up, when you look and see in the vents, you can actually see sparks.

• 33:32Josh Clark?

  It's pretty cool.

• 33:33Speaker 02

  It's very cool.

• 33:33Josh Clark?

  It's like those little guns you used to get at the circus when you were a kid.

• 33:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, I love those. Um, so it's packed with those magnets around the edge, and in the middle, you've got your core, which is, you know, like an iron wire. And, uh, it's wrapped around, you know, the copper's wrapped around the edges. So electricity flows to that core, creates magnetism, and then that pushes against the outer cylinder and makes that motor spin around. And then that's where you get your mechanical energy.

• 34:02Josh Clark?

  Right, and an electric motor is probably the best example of how you're converting, um, energy from one form to another.

• 34:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:12Josh Clark?

  And then re-converting it. Because an electric motor is basically a generator in reverse.

• 34:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:17Josh Clark?

  And so you use that mechanical energy, the spinning of the turbine down the line, and convert it in your electric drill.

• 34:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:24Josh Clark?

  Back into mechanical energy to spin the drill.

• 34:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:27Josh Clark?

  And in between is that flow of electrons that's causing the whole thing, or that's carrying that energy from point A to point B.

• 34:44Speaker 02

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• 34:58Josh Clark?

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• 36:01Josh Clark?

  There's one other thing. If you look at a plug that you're plugging an appliance into, because again, you're just attaching a load to that flow of electrons and diverting it through your appliance, and then it goes back on its merry way, right?

• 36:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 36:15Josh Clark?

  If you look at a plug, sometimes you'll see three prongs. And the third prong, the one on the bottom, seems different from the other ones. It's round. And that is actually a grounding wire.

• 36:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, very important.

• 36:27Josh Clark?

  Very, very important because as awesome as we've gotten with producing and directing electricity, we can't control the amount of electrons that flow through an outlet to down to a single electron.

• 36:40Speaker 02

  Right.

• 36:41Josh Clark?

  And so there's such a thing as leakage of electrons, which is crazy. And there's also electrical buildup that can happen, where if you're not using all of the amps through an appliance, the residual amps can build up and they charge the appliance.

• 37:00Josh Clark?

  And again, as with static electricity, a charge is just sitting there waiting to be neutralized.

• 37:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:07Josh Clark?

  Sometimes through you, which can make it very dangerous.

• 37:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:10Josh Clark?

  To prevent this, they have, they connect the appliance through either that third prong in a plug, or through an actual grounding wire, to a copper wire that's driven into the ground.

• 37:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:23Josh Clark?

  And that's where the word comes from, ground.

• 37:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:26Josh Clark?

  You're actually transferring that residual electric, electric energy to the ground, which is basically an infinite reservoir.

• 37:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:36Josh Clark?

  For a charge dispersal.

• 37:37Speaker 02

  To earth.

• 37:38Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 37:39Speaker 02

  So like when you look at a power line, and you see that bare wire coming down from the power line, and driven into the ground by a stake, that is the ground, and it goes down like six or 10 feet.

• 37:50Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 37:51Speaker 02

  Or if you look at every house, you're gonna see, near the meter, the electrical meter, you're gonna see a, probably a copper rod driven into the ground, and that's your house's ground.

• 38:01Josh Clark?

  Exactly. Same thing with a, a lightning rod. It's a ground for your entire house, so that the lightning doesn't go through your house, it goes through the lightning rod. And the point of all of those, is that the earth is, it can take it. Go ahead, give it as many electrical shocks as you want, it's gonna be fine.

• 38:17Speaker 02

  So we think.

• 38:18Josh Clark?

  And it's a very good, it's very good at just dispersing those charges. So that's what grounding comes from. Very important stuff.

• 38:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, and we mentioned transformers earlier. Power plants create massive amounts of electricity, and you can't just shoot that down a power line and straight into a house, because it will blow up everything in your, in your home.

• 38:42Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 38:43Speaker 02

  Immediately.

• 38:44Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 38:45Speaker 02

  But they do need that kind of juice, in order to transfer, like hundreds of miles away from the power plant, you know, if you don't live close, it's still gotta get to you.

• 38:53Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 38:54Speaker 02

  So the way they do that is through transformers. They transmit the power with a lot of voltage, so more force, less amperage.

• 39:01Josh Clark?

  Less resistance.

• 39:02Speaker 02

  And less resistance.

• 39:03Josh Clark?

  Which means you lose less.

• 39:04Speaker 02

  And then, once it, you know, they stop it down along the way, and by the time it gets to your home, it's transformed down to, here in the United States, 120 volts.

• 39:12Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 39:13Speaker 02

  Making it.

• 39:14Josh Clark?

  More elsewhere.

• 39:15Speaker 02

  Nice, nice and safe.

• 39:16Josh Clark?

  Right. And then you just plug your appliance into it, and all of a sudden, that electrical energy transmits to...

• 39:25Josh Clark?

  Your toaster strudel being warmed.

• 39:27Speaker 02

  Your Hot Pocket? With tainted meats?

• 39:30Josh Clark?

  Wow.

• 39:31Speaker 02

  Did you hear about that?

• 39:31Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 39:32Speaker 02

  Ooh.

• 39:32Josh Clark?

  Remember that whole horse meat thing with Ikea the last couple of years? It wasn't just Ikea, but they they were definitely called out maybe most strongly for.

• 39:40Speaker 02

  I think the Hot Pockets too, they called it unsound meat, which is just a word that sounds weird in front of meat.

• 39:46Josh Clark?

  Yeah, unsound is not.

• 39:47Speaker 02

  You don't want to go near it.

• 39:48Josh Clark?

  Unsound, unclean, it's biblical.

• 39:51Speaker 02

  Alright, so now I think we, even though we've covered it in the Tesla podcast, we do need to go over ACDC a little bit.

• 39:56Josh Clark?

  Seriously, go listen to that podcast, that's a great one. Great episode.

• 40:00Speaker 02

  Best Australian band of all time.

• 40:02Josh Clark?

  They were good?

• 40:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:03Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 40:04Speaker 02

  Are good.

• 40:04Josh Clark?

  David, are they still around?

• 40:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, man.

• 40:07Josh Clark?

  David Bowie played a pretty mean Tesla.

• 40:10Speaker 02

  No, I'm not talking about Tesla, I'm talking about ACDC.

• 40:13Josh Clark?

  Oh, okay.

• 40:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, Tesla's alright.

• 40:16Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 40:16Speaker 02

  And they're not around.

• 40:17Josh Clark?

  That's why I was really confused for a second. I was more confused about that than I was by any aspect of electricity.

• 40:24Speaker 02

  I'm like, yeah, man, of course they're around.

• 40:26Josh Clark?

  Yeah, and I was like, and they're Australian? Uh, yeah, no, ACDC's great. And they're still around, huh?

• 40:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're, I think they're putting an album together right now.

• 40:34Josh Clark?

  Good for them, I'll bet it sounds exactly like all the rest. It still rocks.

• 40:38Speaker 02

  Blues-based rock.

• 40:39Josh Clark?

  Uh, in velour, or velvet.

• 40:42Speaker 02

  Yes. So there was a battle being waged, uh, between Tesla and Edison, and Tesla was all about the AC current, alternating current. Edison, as we know, said, no, no, no, that's far too dangerous, and I'll prove this to you by electrocuting animals, and dogs and cats, and even an elephant named Topsy.

• 40:59Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 41:00Speaker 02

  And, um.

• 41:01Josh Clark?

  And he was alleged to have helped botch the first electrocution by electric chair by a state.

• 41:07Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 41:08Josh Clark?

  Um, I don't remember the details of that, but it's definitely in our, our episode on.

• 41:11Speaker 02

  Exploded the guy.

• 41:13Josh Clark?

  Yeah, he was a real jerk, remember?

• 41:15Speaker 02

  Yeah. Um, and I think we remembered, I remember talking about there should be a movie too about that, that battle.

• 41:22Josh Clark?

  I, yeah, I can't believe there's not.

• 41:23Speaker 02

  It sounds super nerdy, but it would actually be interesting.

• 41:26Josh Clark?

  It'd go over well these days.

• 41:27Speaker 02

  Agreed. So, uh, batteries these days use direct current power, DC power, and that's, means the positive and negative terminals are always positive and negative, and it always, electricity always flows in the same direction.

• 41:41Josh Clark?

  From negative to positive.

• 41:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, it does not alternate.

• 41:45Josh Clark?

  Yeah, just think about it this way. Uh, negative.

• 41:50Josh Clark?

  An electron's negative.

• 41:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:51Josh Clark?

  So in any terminal, that's where all the negative charge is.

• 41:54Speaker 02

  Bad vibes.

• 41:55Josh Clark?

  And then positive is where the electrons want to be because they're seeking to balance it out and create neutral so that there's no pole.

• 42:02Speaker 02

  Good vibes.

• 42:02Josh Clark?

  Yeah. Or at the very least, so-so vibes.

• 42:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, true. But not negative vibes.

• 42:08Josh Clark?

  No.

• 42:09Speaker 02

  And then you have alternating current, or AC, which means the current reverses 60 times per second here in the US, 50 times per second in Europe. So it's just reversing back and forth, alternating that current. And I guess, so who won out in the end? Tesla? On a large scale?

• 42:32Josh Clark?

  Well, yeah, I mean, that's what power generation does.

• 42:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, but Edison has his batteries, I guess, that he could throw at Tesla.

• 42:37Josh Clark?

  Which are pretty important, too. But, yeah, I think we kind of came out in the same way on that episode.

• 42:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, Tesla won.

• 42:43Josh Clark?

  They both kind of won.

• 42:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 42:45Josh Clark?

  But Tesla was the cooler dude. Although Tesla died penniless in New York in the 1940s.

• 42:52Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah?

• 42:52Josh Clark?

  And Edison died a rich, fat guy.

• 42:55Speaker 02

  He died of consumption and gout.

• 42:58Josh Clark?

  That was Ben Franklin.

• 42:59Speaker 02

  I guess we can finish with, if you get your power bill and you're amazed and you wonder how they calculate this stuff, it's pretty easy. Like we said, here in the US, we deliver electricity into your home at 120 volts. So you've got to remember that one, too. It's important. Our article uses a space heater as an example, which I think is pretty good. You plug in that space heater, let's say it's the only thing going in your house, which is not realistic, but go with me. You plug in the space heater, and it comes out to 10 amps. So you multiply that 10 times 120, because that's your voltage, and you have got 1,200 watts of heat.

• 43:41Josh Clark?

  Or 1.2 kilowatts.

• 43:43Speaker 02

  Yes. Because that's how the power company is going to measure it.

• 43:46Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 43:46Speaker 02

  Because they deal in big chunks.

• 43:48Josh Clark?

  And if you leave that heater on for an hour, you've just used 1.2 kilowatt-hours, which is how you're billed.

• 43:54Speaker 02

  Yeah. And if they charge you a dime per kilowatt-hour, it's going to cost you 12 cents an hour to run that space heater.

• 44:00Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 44:00Speaker 02

  Pretty simple.

• 44:01Josh Clark?

  Yep.

• 44:01Speaker 02

  And neat. And that's why when you go to buy an appliance, you should look at that little tag that says how many kilowatt-hours you're going to be burning.

• 44:08Josh Clark?

  That's right.

• 44:10Speaker 02

  The lower, the better.

• 44:11Josh Clark?

  So electricity, huh? You got anything else?

• 44:14Speaker 02

  No, don't play around with it.

• 44:15Josh Clark?

  No, don't.

• 44:18Josh Clark?

  Yes, always wear rubber, sold shoes.

• 44:20Speaker 02

  Because rubber is an insulator.

• 44:22Josh Clark?

  It is. Why? Because it hangs on to its electrons.

• 44:26Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 44:26Josh Clark?

  The atoms that make up rubber.

• 44:28Speaker 02

  It's just that simple.

• 44:30Josh Clark?

  If you want to know more about electricity, you can type that word in the search bar at howstuffworks.com. You can also go on all sorts of kid's science sites and find out more about it, too. And since I said "search bar," it's time for listener mail.

• 44:43Speaker 02

  I'm gonna call this a rare birthday shout-out. "Hey, guys, my name is Pearl, and I just wanted to tell you how much a fan I am of your show. I was introduced to the podcast by my best friend Molly. We've been best friends for 12 years, and many of our conversations begin by commenting on the podcast. For example, we could not stop laughing at your 1920s voice toward the end of the underground tunnels episode. We laughed over and over."

• 45:11Josh Clark?

  That is a good voice.

• 45:12Speaker 02

  I think she's talking about this one, see?

• 45:14Josh Clark?

  That one, yeah.

• 45:15Speaker 02

  Electricity, Tesla, Edison, killing animals. All right, that was for you, Molly and Pearl. "Whenever we're in the car together, we find a podcast of yours to listen to so we can enjoy it together. I was wondering if you could help her out. Molly's 26th birthday is April 9. I think it would be a totally awesome birthday gift if you would send her a shout-out. During listener mail, I would be forever in your debt. Thanks for doing the podcast. I'm a middle school teacher who always listens during my prep periods. And so, happy birthday, Molly. Happy 26. This should be close..."

• 45:47Josh Clark?

  Yeah, happy birthday.

• 45:48Speaker 02

  "...to April 9.

• 45:49Josh Clark?

  That was very nice of us, Chuck.

• 45:50Speaker 02

  "And thank you, Pearl Webb in Chicago, and your friendship means a lot to us." You know?

• 45:57Josh Clark?

  Your friendship with one another.

• 45:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, and then conversely, through us all together in their car.

• 46:03Josh Clark?

  Nice.

• 46:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:04Josh Clark?

  Well, if you want to get some sort of shout-out, sometimes Chuck Danes, too, he's very nice. You can send us an email to [email protected].

• 46:17Speaker 00

  Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts, MyHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

• 46:33Josh Clark?

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• 47:17Josh Clark?

  which is why Toyota trucks are known for holding their value, which could mean big savings when it's time for your next Toyota. So get a great deal today and a great value tomorrow. Shop toyota.com for more. Toyota, let's go places.

• 47:33Speaker 03

  That sound? That's pro squash. Some of the fastest rallies in sport played inches from the crowd. The National Squash League is back in full swing for season four. The sport is heading to the 2028 Olympics for the first time, and you can see it up close right now in a city near you. Watch every match for free on YouTube. Search National Squash League and hit subscribe or follow live updates on Instagram at NSL.Sport.

• 48:00Speaker 04

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.