This Famous Physics Experiment Shows Why the Government Should Support ‘Useless’ Science

The lighter creates a tiny spark that jumps from one wire to the other in the front pair. This spark creates electromagnetic waves, with the two wires serving as transmission antennas to amplify the waves. The two wires in back are the receiving antennas, and they will produce an electric current just like with Hertz’s loop of wire. Instead of creating a spark on the receiver, on my device the light bulb will turn on. The neon bulb is really nice since it's high-voltage but low-current, which is exactly what we need. OK, lights out! Here's what it looks like when you fire that spark. It might seem trivial, but it's not. You are actually both sending and receiving electromagnetic waves. Science, What Is It Good For? When Hertz showed his experimental verification of Maxwell's equations, the science community knew it was cool, and the general public got curious. Journalists, naturally—ever the pragmatists—asked him what it could be used for. His reply: “It's of no use whatsoever … t ... Read full article.