Professor Eric Laithwaite: The Circle of Magnetism - 1968 - Summary

Summary

Here is a possible concise summary:

The speaker is a professor of electrical engineering who uses various analogs to demonstrate and explain the phenomena of magnetism, such as water jets, coils, magnets, and mercury. He shows how magnetic fields can be used to float balls, pump fluids, and fire projectiles. He also compares the behavior of magnets to that of gas molecules and shows how they can be ionized and manipulated. He uses different devices and experiments to illustrate his points and make the invisible visible.

Facts

Here are some key facts extracted from the text:

1. The speaker is a professor of electrical engineering who uses water jets and magnets as analogs to explain invisible phenomena.
2. The speaker demonstrates how a water circuit can be analogous to an electric circuit, but also shows the limitations of the analogy when using flexible pipes or coils.
3. The speaker shows how permanent magnets behave in different ways depending on their orientation, polarity and proximity to other magnets or steel.
4. The speaker uses an iron ring with two coils to show how a magnetic flux can be induced and transmitted between them, and how this can be used to light a lamp or create a magnetic gun.
5. The speaker uses small magnets in a box to model the behavior of gas molecules under different conditions of pressure, temperature, evaporation and diffusion.
6. The speaker shows how a magnetic field can pump fluids such as mercury or aluminium, and how this relates to the concept of magneto hydrodynamics.
7. The speaker shows how a ball can be floated on a water jet or a magnetic field, and how the stability of the ball depends on the shape and phase of the coils.