High-voltage physics - with David Ricketts
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Published 2023-10-19
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This talk was recorded at the Ri on 24 June 2023.
See the wonders of elusive plasma toroids and the magical Gassiot Fountain, often used as the grand finale of Victorian high-voltage science demonstrations. Of course no high-voltage talk would be complete without (several) Tesla coils! You'll see metre-long sparks illuminating the Theatre, as they arc and dance to the musical beat of David's Tesla coil orchestra.
In the tradition of the Ri, this talk is 100% demonstration and amazement – no slides here.
Prof David Ricketts is an Innovation Fellow in the Technology and Entrepreneurship Centre at Harvard University. He works with organisations around the globe, such as Mastercard, Ubisoft, Disney, General Motors, Dell and Ferarri to accelerate innovation.
David is also an accomplished academic, having his work appear twice in Nature as well as other distinguished publications and books. He is recipient of the National Science Foundation (US) CAREER award and the DARPA Young Faculty Award for his work on nano-electromagnetic devices. His innovations include a re-programmable, self-assembling matter, an American football tracking for sports visualisation with Disney/ESPN, and an advanced wireless power systems for next-generation cars with General Motors Research.
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All Comments (21)
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"it's a precious antique" BLOWS IT UP man I love science
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What a show! The plasma toroid was the most extraordinary thing. I'm flabbergasted.
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A wonderful lecture, I don't think ive seen a live lecture with anywhere near as many complex demonstrations in one go; pulling them all off is extremely impressive.
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Just caught this, my dad apprenticed under his father was also an electrician. He's a Glaswegian Scot, who educated himself up as an Electrical Engineer, who went on to become a lecturer in Physics and Mathematics and is my inspiration as well as my hero. Thankyou so much for giving me some warm and fuzzy niceness in reverie
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Is this the "how not to do a demo" demo? If so it was a complete success. (-:
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I normally listen to these to learn and fall asleep to and keep coming back until it’s done over a couple of nights. However, this was fantastic and I couldn’t stop watching. Absolutely amazing and by far one of my most favourite lectures in a long time, if not of all time. ❤️
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Thank you very much professor David Ricketts
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I mainly do theoretical physics, but this demonstration - filled presentation was exceptional. Good reminder that physics actually "works"! 👍
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I've seen grapes used to induce plasma in a microwave. 😊Put a grape on a plate and place a glass over the top. Switch on microwave. The glass keeps the plasma contained. It was a while ago, so please forgive me if I've forgotten something.
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This looked cool but I'm having major difficulty following his explanations! Sometimes he mixes things up or the experiment isn't working for him so there isn't a clear cause and effect. He also explains the paths of the charges without enough context. Oh well, it looked neat but unfortunately I think he just confused me more than I already was.
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Wow that's the most amazing lecture I've ever seen. I'm an electrical engineer working in power electronics. I wonder how many young people were inspired into a new career path from that? If so welcome and enjoy it.
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Their audio engineer setting up the mic so that you can hear EVERY breath he takes is insane.
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It is amazing that he got this many experiments working as well as they did.
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As an electrician, I went to a house where lightning hit the TV antenna. It blew a hole in the tile roof. The TV coax had NO copper in it. Power points were blown off walls. 240 volt cables had NO copper in them. Just plastic spagetti.
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This is the kind of content YouTube was made for. How cool!
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It's Christmas every day with RI lectures, very nostalgic even though they are current.
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Great presentation. Thanks for allowing us to follow your demonstration! Love seeing things taken out of their museum cases and made to work again. I really feel this.
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Awesome demo and amazing place with such significant history to perform the demos. I can't believe that room isn't packed. If i lived there, I'd see them all.
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Aircraft fly through storms and make contact with lightning strikes. The fuselage or metal skin of an aircraft is acting as a Faraday cage. Passengers and crew are safe during lightning strikes because of this
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Thank-you. It's great to see some of the original equipment being used in demonstrations. Much appreciated! 🙂👍
