Introduction: The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday (1/6)
Why Hacker News recommends it
Praised as a masterpiece of science education that recreates Faraday's demonstrations.
What it is
Bill Hammack of engineerguy introduces his series on Michael Faraday's lectures on The Chemical History of a Candle. He describes the free companion book and the commentary and caption features that help modern viewers.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2018 to 2022.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec JshWright · 2018-02 · on “The Engineering of the Drinking Bird Toy [video]”
If you haven't watched all of Bill's videos, you should put them on your list right right now. His early stuff was a great mixture of goofy humor and fascinating explanations of the engineering behind various everyday objects. His more recent stuff has (unfortunately, in my opinion) dropped most of the comedy, but really stepped up the overall quality. Some highlights: His series on Faraday's Chemical History of a Candle lectures: [this video] His series on Albert Michelson’s Harmonic Analyzer (a century old device that can mechanically perform Fourier transforms) [LINK] I'd also really recommend his book on R101, the last great British airship. [LINK]
Strong rec helsinkiandrew · 2022-09 · on “Michael Faraday invented the rubber balloon”
His "Chemical History of a Candle" Christmas lecture is a masterpiece in science education. Narrated here by Bill Hammack - the engineerguy: [this video]
Recommends bradyd · 2019-05 · on “The Chemical History of a Candle (1848)”
Bill Hammack, engineerguy on YouTube, did a video series based on these lectures that are a very good. [this video]
Recommends dredmorbius · 2021-07 · on “4.6B-year-old meteorite found”
How would you demonstrate that observationally? Science isn't just asking "what if...?" It's following up with "... and how could I demonstrate that?" The third step is then "how do I communicate that to others?" In the domain of chemistry, there's a wonderful example of that in Michael Faraday's "The Chemical History of a Candle". YouTube's EngineerGuy (Bill Hammack) has a wonderful recreation of Faraday's public demonstration of these properties. It seems obvious and pedestrian now, but that's because Faraday introduced us to these concepts and convinced us, collectively, of their fundamental truth. He gives us the hypothesis, he gives us the observable consequence, and he then demonstrate