Notes For All Chapters – Balbharati English Class 7
Great Scientists
Topic: The Life and Achievements of Michael Faraday
Main Idea: Great scientists like Michael Faraday show us that perseverance and hard work can overcome difficulties and lead to amazing discoveries.
Introduction to Great Scientists
- Great scientists never give up, even when things get tough.
- Michael Faraday is one of the most famous scientists and inventors in history.
- His work on electricity (Faraday’s Laws) is still studied today.
- His life story teaches us about courage and determination.
Early Life of Michael Faraday
Birth and Family: Born into a poor family in a dirty part of London.
Challenges:
- Had a speech problem as a child (e.g., said “wabbit” instead of “rabbit” and “Fawaday” instead of “Faraday”).
- Other children laughed at him, and teachers didn’t help.
Education:
- Taken out of school at age 12 by his mother due to poverty.
- His formal education ended early.
First Job: At 13, he worked with a bookbinder, binding books all day.
Love for Reading: Stayed up all night reading books, which became his passion.
How Faraday Discovered Electricity
First Spark: Found a book on electricity while binding books and became fascinated by it.
Big Opportunity: At 21, a friend gave him a free ticket to a lecture by Humphry Davy, a famous chemist, at the Royal Institution in London (1812).
The Lecture:
- Davy talked about chemicals and electricity.
- Faraday took detailed notes about the “mysterious force of electric fluid.”
- Made a book from his notes to give to Davy someday.
Dream: Decided he wanted to be a scientist, not just a bookbinder, and saw Davy as his role model.
Problem: He had no money, education, or social status to become a scientist.
Faraday’s Struggle and Success with Humphry Davy
First Rejection: Davy didn’t agree to mentor Faraday at first, but Faraday didn’t give up.
Turning Point:
- A chemical explosion blinded Davy temporarily.
- Davy hired Faraday as his secretary because Faraday had a great memory.
Davy’s Doubts: Davy didn’t think Faraday could become a scientist due to his background and told him to stick to bookbinding.
Faraday’s Hard Work:
- Worked day and night to learn about Davy’s experiments.
- Became Davy’s lab assistant and started his scientific journey.
First Big Achievement:
- Davy and another scientist, William Wollaston, couldn’t solve an electromagnetism experiment.
- Davy teased Faraday to try it after cleaning the lab.
- Faraday solved it in a few days and invented the induction motor (turned electricity into continuous motion).
Impact of the Induction Motor:
- Led to inventions like fans, air conditioning, sewing machines, cars, trains, and airplane engines.
Fame: Faraday became a celebrity scientist overnight, and people stopped caring about his poor background.
Davy’s Jealousy and Faraday’s First Failure
Davy’s Reaction:
- Instead of being proud, Davy was jealous of Faraday’s success.
- People said Faraday was Davy’s greatest discovery, which made Davy angry.
Impossible Task:
- Davy gave Faraday a piece of Bavarian glass (used in telescopes and microscopes) to figure out how it was made.
- The process was a secret, and Davy knew Faraday couldn’t do it with the lab equipment.
Faraday’s Effort:
- Worked on it for 4 years without help but failed.
- Kept a glass brick as a reminder of this tough time to inspire him later.
Faraday’s Later Achievements
- After Davy’s Death (1829):
- Took over Davy’s lab and was free to explore his ideas.
- Electrical Generator:
- Discovered that moving a magnet could produce electricity.
- Invented the electrical generator, used today in dynamos and power devices.
- Memory Loss (1840):
- Developed memory problems but didn’t stop working.
Light and Magnetism:
- Used the Bavarian glass from his failure to prove light, electricity, and magnetism are connected.
- Showed light could be turned into a single wave (polarization) using a magnet.
Magnetic Fields:
- Did an experiment with iron filings and a magnet, showing invisible magnetic fields caused the patterns.
- Couldn’t explain it with math due to his lack of formal education.
Partnership with James Maxwell
- Problem: Faraday’s drawings of magnetic fields weren’t accepted without math.
- Solution: Met James Maxwell, a rich and educated physicist who knew mathematics.
- Teamwork: Maxwell turned Faraday’s ideas into equations called Maxwell’s Equations.
- Impact: These equations help us today in electronics and communication systems (e.g., phones, radios, and maybe even talking to aliens in the future!).
Lessons from Faraday’s Life
- Started with many difficulties: poverty, speech defect, no education.
- Never gave up, even when teased or given impossible tasks.
- Turned challenges into opportunities with hard work and belief in himself.
- Became a legend whose inventions changed the world.
- Matches the saying: “When you wish upon a star, it does not matter who you are” (from Pinocchio).
Key Words
- Perseverance: Not giving up even when things are hard.
- Induction Motor: A machine that turns electricity into motion.
- Electrical Generator: A device that turns motion into electricity.
- Polarization: Making light move in one direction using a magnet.
- Maxwell’s Equations: Math formulas explaining Faraday’s discoveries.
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