Magnet Academy: Electrostatic Generator

The magnets on a refrigerator are stronger than Earth's magnetic force. Watch a video that describes the fundamental force of magnetism. It relates magnetism to electricity and connects this to almost every type of electricity...

The legendary Lord Kelvin made electricity from water with this ingenious electrostatic generator. (Java tutorial)

Whenever current travels through a conductor, a magnetic field is generated. (Java tutorial)

The first telegraphs are constructed and Michael Faraday produces much of his brilliant and enduring research into electricity and magnetism, inventing the first primitive transformer and generator.

A fun look at how Van de Graaff generators illustrate electrostatic forces. (Java tutorial)

Invented around 1930, the Van de Graaff generator is a popular tool for teaching the principles of electrostatics. Others just call it "that thing that makes your hair stand on end." See how it works here.

Out of a humble ice pail the great experimentalist Michael Faraday created a device to demonstrate key principles of attraction, repulsion and electrostatic induction. (Java tutorial)

Video lecture presents an introduction to charge and Coulomb's Law. [14:02]

Discovering how cathode rays behave in a magnetic field was a big step forward for scientists trying to understand the mysterious phenomenon. (Java tutorial)

In 1866, the research of Werner von Siemens would lead to his discovery of the dynamo electric principle that paved the way for the large-scale generation of electricity through mechanical means.