Chapter 141: Faraday’s New Discovery
Chapter 141 Faraday’s New Discovery
In the laboratory of the Royal Society, Henry Goulbourne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, leaning on his cane, leaned over to look at the ammeter, whose hands were turning, and pushed up his spectacles in self-consciousness.
He frowned and slowly straightened his waist, and then embarrassedly rushed to the side of Faraday and opened his mouth to ask: “So …… Mr. Faraday, this electromagnetic induction phenomenon, in the end, what is the significance of it?”
Faraday looked at Goulburn and responded half-jokingly, “Your Excellency, it certainly has significance. It is so significant that perhaps before too long, your Ministry of Finance will be able to collect taxes on it. Have you forgotten the steam engine?”
“My God!”
Goulburn mocked himself, “thanks to science, and still more to the steam-engine, to which we owe the painful loss of a distinguished leader of the House of Commons, Mr. William Huskisson, only a little while ago. But perhaps this phenomenon of electromagnetic induction would be a little safer than a steam locomotive?
Mr. Faraday, I beg you, please don’t make artificial lightning or anything like that. A locomotive that kills Mr. Huskisson is already making a mess of the cabinet. If you come up with an artificial lightning bolt or something, and then turn around and split Buckingham Palace, then the Duke of Wellington won’t have enough to explain this to the public, even if he has to fight two more Waterloos, or rip Napoleon’s head off.”
When Faraday heard this, he couldn’t help but respond with a smile, “Electricity is certainly a dangerous thing, but I don’t think anything will go wrong as long as you deal with it carefully. If you don’t believe me, I can prove the safety of electric current to you in person right now.”
“Yes?”
Gulben reached out and squeezed the wire in front of him, only to hear a snap, and his thumb was instantly electrified with a small white spot.
He hurriedly bit his finger in pain and complained at Faraday, “Mr. Faraday, is this the safety of electric current?”
Faraday smiled and shook his head, “Sir, you are in too much of a hurry. The safety of the electric current that I am talking about must be handled by applying another kind of experiment in order to do the presentation and explanation.”
Faraday had just said this when he happened to see Arthur walk in from the open space outside the lab.
Before Arthur could react to what was going on, he was caught by Faraday.
“Arthur, you’ve come at the right time, please help me drag over that spherical iron cage in the corner of the lab, and incidentally help me electrify it in a while.”
“Huh?” Arthur looked at the iron cage that was placed in the corner that was woven with fine iron wires, and turned to ask, “Is this some new invention?”
Faraday smiled and shook his head, “No Arthur, the new invention is over here, remember the disk generator I mentioned to you before? I just had it made a little while ago, but the current initial version is a hand cranked version, in a moment I’ll be getting into that big metal cage while you’re out there turning the handle of the disk generator and discharging electricity at me with the help of the tip of the wire.”
Arthur looked at the disk generator set in front of Faraday, and then at the bulbous iron cage beside him, and he frowned as if remembering something.
He remembered as if he had once seen a similar magic show on television.
He tentatively asked, ”Mr. Faraday, you’re not thinking of performing that, are you? Absolute Domain? Controlling thunder and lightning?”
Faraday smiled in amazement, “Arthur, I feel more and more that you should devote yourself to the field of science. Perhaps you can also benefit the public in Scotland Yard, but your talent in the field of scientific research can rarely be reached by others. You probably also discovered that phenomenon, right?”
Arthur replied vaguely, “Not really a discovery, just a marvelous experience. As you know, if a person can still survive after being struck by lightning, if it cannot be explained by God’s manifestation, one can only consider the problem from other aspects.”
Goulburn listened to the conversation between the two men and only felt more and more confused.
He rushed to Faraday and asked, “Mr. Faraday, may I ask which one of the up-and-coming scientists among the Royal Society this young gentleman is?”
Faraday smiled and explained for him, “Your Excellency, this is Mr. Arthur Hastings. He is indeed an up-and-coming researcher in electromagnetism in Great Britain, but unfortunately, he is not currently in the service of the Royal Society, but is an upstanding Scotland Yard police officer under Sir Peel.”
Goulburn always felt something familiar when he heard this name, and after pondering for a while, he suddenly came to a realization, “Arthur Hastings, Scotland Yard, so it’s you.”
Goulburn intimately extended his hand to Arthur, “Young man, Robert and I have mentioned you. It’s just that I originally thought that you were just a talented police officer who was good at solving crimes, but I didn’t expect that your attainments in scientific research would actually be recognized by Mr. Faraday. You know, after Sir David’s death, Mr. Faraday can almost be regarded as the brightest star in the scientific world of Britain. Young man, I must honestly say that perhaps I was the one who underestimated you a bit before.”
Goulburn made such a high evaluation, and Arthur naturally had to respond humbly.
He shook the other party’s hand and politely complimented, “Perhaps you have underestimated me before, but I have never underestimated you. When I was still a child, I heard that you played a great role in the 1812 war between Britain and the United States, and the Treaty of Ghent signed by the two countries at peace talks in 1814 was even drafted by you personally.
When I was a student of history at the University of London, I also read the written record of the negotiations you left behind – and it wasn’t until I came here that I realized the deep-seated determination in the heart of every American to exterminate the Indians and take over their territories.
Although your determination to prevent Americans from encroaching on Indian Territory was not ultimately realized in a treaty, we can still see the efforts you made in historical sources.”
Goulbourne was surprised, while pleased, to hear that Arthur actually knew his past experiences as well as he did. He praised, “It seems that some of the members of Parliament do have a problem with the stereotypes of the University of London. Mr. Hastings, from your words and mannerisms, I deeply feel the heavy academic style and good education that exists in the University of London. I am not ashamed to say that I am also very fond of Mr. Jeremy Bianchin’s ideas, and his discourse has had a profound influence on the formation of my conception of life and political views.”
Speaking of this, Arthur smiled and asked as an aside, “Perhaps you should consider persuading the legislators to at least grant our school a teaching charter for Mr. Bianchin’s sake?”
Goulbourne, who was also an old fox made into a savant, responded with the same smile, “If the Cabinet can hold out until your school’s opening season next year, I will certainly consider this offer of yours carefully.”
At the end of his sentence, Goulbourne naturally sidetracked the topic as he looked towards the circular iron cage that had been moved to Arthur’s side, bending down to take a closer look, “So, Mr. Faraday, what exactly are you planning on demonstrating to me today?”
Faraday didn’t say anything, he just smiled and nodded his head at Arthur, then opened the door of the iron cage himself and got himself inside.
Seeing this, Arthur roughly recalled that magic video he had once watched, so he followed suit and held the handle of the disc generator in one hand, while the other hand picked up the rod with the tip discharging electricity.
He then nodded politely at Goulburn and spoke.
“Your Excellency, please duck away for a distance, this experiment may have a certain degree of danger.”
“Dangerousness?” Gulben froze, “Didn’t Mr. Faraday say that this experiment is safe?”
Arthur pursed his lips, “That’s right, for Mr. Faraday in the cage, this experiment is safe. But if you insist on standing between the discharge rod and Mr. Faraday, then you become dangerous. How shall I describe this matter?
Well …… let’s say that you are like Mr. William Huskisson, the former Secretary of State, standing on the railroad tracks. If you don’t want to be knocked a few meters off the tracks, it’s best to take professional advice.
Of course, I’m probably being a bit alarmist in saying this. After all, I still don’t know exactly how powerful the disc generator made by Mr. Faraday is.
But then, getting you out of that position was for my own sake, after all, we just had a Superintendent of Police removed from his post at Scotland Yard due to the death of a prominent politician.”
“Whoa! My God!” Goulburn hurriedly gave way seven or eight paces when he heard this, and he held up his crooked hat as he spoke, “There are always so many oddities in the Royal Society.”
Arthur saw that he had taken up his hiding place, and only then did he take a deep breath.
He turned the handle of the disk generator while bringing the discharge lever to the front of the iron cage.
Only to see that before the two made complete contact, thin, sinuous, bright lightning had already been generated between the tip of the discharge rod and the surface of the iron cage.
The sound of the electric current in the air made Gulben’s eyelids flutter, but before he could regain his senses, he saw that Faraday had already smiled and pressed his white-gloved hands against the inner surface of the iron cage.
“Mr. Faraday, danger!” Goulburn shouted, yet the expected electric shock to Faraday did not occur.
“This?” Gulben pinched his chin and pondered for a moment, and after looking at his finger that had just been electrocuted with a white spot, he asked towards Arthur, “Can it be that this generator of yours is sending out fake electricity?”
Arthur glanced at the lab bench behind him and spoke, “Whether it’s fake electricity or not, we can’t say. Therefore, I suggest that you are perfectly capable of picking up the mop next to the lab bench and poking the outer surface of the iron cage.”
The white-haired Gulben sniffed and seemed to struggle a bit internally, but after hesitating for not long, curiosity eventually overcame fear.
The cabinet minister of finance of Great Britain actually lifted the mop like an eight or nine year old urchin and aimed it at the iron cage, “I’m really going to poke it?”
Arthur exhaled, his arms were already a little sore, “You’d better hurry, this disk generator is still quite tiring to crank. Perhaps the next time the Ministry of Finance is planning to give the Royal Society a grant, they might consider sending over a few squirrels, those little guys are naturally suited to running in circles.”
No sooner had Arthur finished speaking than Goulburn gritted his teeth and pushed the mop harder against the iron cage.
Only a thud was heard, and a raging ball of fire exploded from the mop’s cloth head, startling Mr. Goulbourne so much that he hurriedly threw the stick away and sat down on the floor.
It was only after a while that Goulburn, who was running for six, covered his thumping heart and got up again, holding onto the lab bench.
He wiped the sweat on his head and swallowed and asked, “What the …… hell is this?”
Arthur smiled and shrugged, “If I remember correctly, this should be called the ‘Faraday Cage Effect’.”
(End of chapter)