CBSE Class 10 Science Michael Faraday Notes

MICHAEL FAREDAY

M. Faraday worked as assistant to Sir Humphry Davy

When Davy set out on a long tour of the continent in 1813–15, his valet did not wish to go. Instead, Faraday went as Davy's scientific assistant, and was asked to act as Davy's valet until a replacement could be found in Paris. Faraday was forced to fill the role of valet as well as assistant throughout the trip. Davy's wife refused to treat Faraday as an equal (making him travel outside the coach, eat with the servants, etc.). The trip did, however, give him access to the scientific elite of Europe and exposed him to a host of stimulating ideas.

In his work on static electricity, Faraday's ice pail experiment demonstrated that the charge resided only on the exterior of a charged conductor, and exterior charge had no influence on anything enclosed within a conductor. This is because the exterior charges redistribute such that the interior fields due to them cancel. This shielding effect is used in what is now known as a Faraday cage.

Faraday's breakthrough came when he wrapped two insulated coils of wire around an iron ring, and found that upon passing a current through one coil a momentary current was induced in the other coil. This phenomenon is now known as mutual induction.

In 1845, Faraday discovered that many materials exhibit a weak repulsion from a magnetic field: a phenomenon he termed diamagnetism.

When asked by the British government to advise on the production of chemical weapons for use in the Crimean War (1853–1856), Faraday refused to participate citing ethical reasons.

Faraday wrote “a flame should be lighted at the commencement and kept alive with unremitting splendor to the end”.

Read the passage and answer

1. Why did Faraday refuse the use of chemical weapons in the war?

2. Which materials are called diamagnetic?

3. What would you have done on tour with Sir Davy?

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