How Electricity Actually Works

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Special thanks to: Bruce Sherwood, Ruth Chabay, Aaron Titus, and Steve Spicklemore https://matterandinteractions.org VPython simulation: http://tinyurl.com/SurfaceCharge

Thanks to Ansys for help with the simulations: https://www.ansys.com/products/electr..

Huge thanks to Richard Abbott from Caltech for all his modeling

Electrical Engineering YouTubers: Electroboom: https://www.youtube.com/c/Electroboom
Alpha Phoenix: https://www.youtube.com/c/AlphaPhoeni...
eevblog: https://www.youtube.com/c/EevblogDave
Ben Watson: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgZU...
Big Clive: https://www.youtube.com/c/Bigclive
Z Y: https://www.youtube.com/user/ZongyiYang
NYU Quantum Technology Lab https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk7i...
Dr. Ben Miles https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUeZ...
Further analysis of the large circuit is available here: https://ve42.co/bigcircuit

Special thanks to Dr Geraint Lewis for bringing up this question in the first place and discussing it with us. Check out his and Dr Chris Ferrie’s new book here: https://ve42.co/Universe2021

References:
A great video about the Poynting vector by the Science Asylum: https://youtu.be/C7tQJ42nGno
Sefton, I. M. (2002). Understanding electricity and circuits: What the text books don’t tell you. In Science Teachers’ Workshop. -- https://ve42.co/Sefton
Feynman, R. P., Leighton, R. B., & Sands, M. (1965). The feynman lectures on physics; vol. Ii, chapter 27. American Journal of Physics, 33(9), 750-752. -- https://ve42.co/Feynman27
Hunt, B. J. (2005). The Maxwellians. Cornell University Press. Müller, R. (2012). A semiquantitative treatment of surface charges in DC circuits. American Journal of Physics, 80(9), 782-788. -- https://ve42.co/Muller2012
Galili, I., & Goihbarg, E. (2005). Energy transfer in electrical circuits: A qualitative account. American journal of physics, 73(2), 141-144. -- https://ve42.co/Galili2004
Deno, D. W. (1976). Transmission line fields. IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, 95(5), 1600-1611. -- https://ve42.co/Deno76

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Written by Derek Muller
Edited by Derek Muller
Filmed by Trenton Oliver and Petr Lebedev
Animation by Mike Radjabov and Ivy Tello
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images
Music from Epidemic Sound and Jonny Hyman
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, and Emily Zhang