Q 01/05

The farad, the SI unit named after Michael Faraday, measures which electrical property?

A) Capacitance

B) Inductance

C) Resistance

D) Conductance

Answer · why

A) Capacitance

Capacitance: the farad measures how much charge a capacitor stores per volt, and it was Faraday who showed that the insulating material between the pl...

Q 02/05

In 1821 Faraday made a wire revolve around a magnet in a bath of mercury, a forerunner of which machine?

A) The electric motor

B) The electric generator

C) The electric telegraph

D) The electric lamp

Answer · why

A) The electric motor

The electric motor: the wire kept circling for as long as current flowed, but the triumph soured when he was accused of borrowing the idea from the ch...

Q 03/05

What trade was the 14-year-old Faraday apprenticed to in 1805?

A) Printing

B) Apothecary

C) Bookbinding

D) Clockmaking

Answer · why

C) Bookbinding

Bookbinding: he read the volumes he was meant to be binding, and an encyclopaedia article on electricity set him building a crude electrical machine o...

Q 04/05

Which book by Jane Marcet particularly inspired the young Faraday's interest in science?

A) Conversations on Political Economy

B) Conversations on Chemistry

C) Conversations on Natural Philosophy

D) Conversations on Vegetable Physiology

Answer · why

B) Conversations on Chemistry

Conversations on Chemistry: Marcet wrote it to pass on what she had learned at Humphry Davy's lectures, so the apprentice met Davy's ideas on the page...

Q 05/05

What did the young Faraday send Humphry Davy in 1812 when asking for a job in science?

A) Neatly written-up lecture notes

B) A home-made electric battery

C) An essay on chemistry

D) A letter from his employer

Answer · why

A) Neatly written-up lecture notes

Neatly written-up lecture notes: he had heard Davy speak on tickets from a customer, and Davy replied kindly but warned him that science was a harsh m...